Life after Graduation
by thethirdtroll
Summary: Harry and Friends' life after graduating from hogwarts. starts five years after. Hc RH Please keep from having a heart attack due to the unexpected UPDATE!
1. Christmas and Old Friends

On Life after Graduation  
  
Disclaimer: I only own the plot and any characters that are not in the books or movies. Basically if you've seen it before its not mine.  
  
Please R/R. Flames will most likely be laughed at but are welcome.  
  
Chapter 1: Christmas and Old Friends  
  
It has been five years since Harry and the gang graduated from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Hermoine had since become a world famous Auror, Ron now owned his own Quidditch shop, and they had now been married for three years. Their little year-and-a-half-old daughter, Hope Molly (Molly after Ron's mom), had Ron's bright red hair but Hermoine's eyes and love for books. Hermione meanwhile was more concerned with preparing for the coming twins and praying that they wouldn't be like Fred and George.  
Harry on the other hand had played for the last five years as seeker for London and had won the World Cup the last four years and was to compete in it again this year. This would be his last World Cup though, for he was planning on proposing to Cho and settling down as the new flying teacher and would be starting a class on how to play Quidditch which would be a four-year coarse. At the moment though Harry was not concerned with any of this. Tonight was the annual Christmas party and Harry was just hanging some mistletoe over the door when the doorbell rang. Harry quickly opened the door. As luck would have it Cho stood at the door. He smiled and pointed up at the mistletoe.  
Cho shook her head, "You think you're so smart putting the mistletoe there well I can't wait till you open the door and Ron or someone else is standing there." Regardless she leaned forward and kissed him sending a thrill through his body.  
"Good point, I'll move it. I already got who I wanted under it." He muttered a spell and the mistletoe moved away from the door and into the center of the room.  
  
Little did Cho know that in Harry's pocket at that very moment was the engagement ring he would give her later that night. Harry glanced at the list of guests he had invited. Cho, Mr. and Mrs. Chang, Ron, Hermoine, little Hope, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Bill and his wife Pearl, Charlie and his girlfriend Leslie, Percy and Penelope, Ginny and her husband Sean, Fred, George and his girlfriend Veronica, Sirus, Remus, Dean, and Semus.  
Sirius' name had been cleared during Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts after some wizards spotted Pettigrew and watched him transform into a rat. Pettigrew was caught later that year and placed in a high security cell bewitched with a spell to prevent animagi transformations. Voldemort had been defeated the year after Harry graduated and now only a few "evil" wizards remained.  
"So Harry, heard you were retiring from Quidditch this year. Why on earth would you do such a thing with a record like yours? Are you mad?" Fred asked curiously.  
"Yes, Harry what on earth could propel you to do such a stupid thing?" George asked in agreement.  
"I have my reasons for retiring and they do not concern you and I will not be talked out of it, so you might as well not even try." Harry said matter-or-factly.  
  
After dinner everyone was out on the dance floor with the exception of Harry. He was cleaning off the tables and setting the dishes up to wash themselves when Hermoine cornered him.  
"Why are you quitting Quidditch, Harry? I know it's one of the most important things to you and it's you're absolute favorite conversation topic so it really doesn't make sense for you to just quit out of the blue. And don't tell me you have your reasons. I'm asking you straight out, what are those reasons?" Hermoine asked him in a low voice.  
"Hermoine, calm down. I was serious about having my reasons and those reasons are that I want to settle down and start a family. I plan on proposing to Cho tonight and I want her and any children we have to have a stable home. I don't want to be away all the time and always be at risk of getting hurt or losing my job. At Hogwarts, I can have a steady job, find a house in Hogesmade, and be there for my family. Plus I can still fly and play Quidditch. I'm doing it for Cho. Did you think it was because of some stupid reason?"  
"You've thought this out haven't you?"  
Cho chose that moment to appear in the kitchen. "Come on, Harry. This is your party you should be out there with your guests." She came up beside him and gently began steering him into the living room.  
The music was still playing and Harry decided to work up his courage and just ask Cho already. "Um. Cho, can I talk to you a minute?" he whispered in her ear softly.  
"Sure. Let's go in the den." They quickly headed downstairs. "What did you want to talk about Harry?"  
"Cho, you know I'm retiring from Quidditch and you probably are wondering why I'm doing it. It's just that.well."  
"Go on."  
"Ever since I met you so many years ago I have grown to love you more and more. Finally it has gotten to the point where I can't stand to be without you. Will you marry me, Cho?" Harry asked pulling the ring box out of his pocket and kneeling before her.  
Cho was too stunned to speak so she just nodded her head. Harry slipped the ring on her finger and she regained her voice. "Oh Harry. This is so wonderful! I never thought you'd ask. I mean you the famous Harry Potter marring some nobody like me. I'm so Happy." She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. They broke for air and he looked her in the eye. "You're not a nobody, Cho. You're the most fantastic woman I know and you are so loving and kind. I love you." Before Cho could respond though they heard whistling coming from the stairs. A small crowd had developed so that they had to fight their way upstairs. Harry called everyone to attention. "For those of you who weren't eavesdropping I would like to announce that Cho has agreed to marry me and make me the happiest man on earth." Ron quickly convinced Harry and Cho to share a special dance. They were almost in the center of the room when the song started. Harry felt like nothing he'd ever felt before. He felt like he was flying but at the same time he felt like his legs couldn't support him anymore. He was floating in air as he danced with Cho that night. Harry knew this kind of magic couldn't be learned at Hogwarts. ******************************************************** A/N this is my first fan fiction please review I need to hear opinions. 


	2. Wedding Bells

Disclaimer: see chapter 1 Chapter 2: Wedding Bells  
  
"You look pale Harry you really do." Ron said as Harry stood there before the ceremony. They were in the lobby greeting guests and trying to fix last minute problems.  
"Yeah maybe I should sit down for a bit. Ron why am I nervous? I mean I love Cho with all of my heart and am so happy that she agreed to marry me but here I am more terrified than when I faced that Horntail or Snape or Voldemort. Why am I so scared?" Harry said as he sat down and put his head in his hands.  
"I can tell you why you're scared Harry. You're scared because you will be responsible for her now. You have to take care of her make sure she never needs anything. It's a big step not to mention the fact that like 200 people are going to watch as you swear that you will always love her. That can be scary." Ron responded as he patted Harry's back reassuringly. He glanced at his watch. "Harry we better get inside or the ceremony will start without us."  
They hurried inside.  
  
Hermione meanwhile was helping Cho get ready. Cho's bridesmaids had already gotten ready and little Hope was already dressed in her flower girl outfit. Cho was just as nervous as Harry while Hermione did her hair. "Cho you need to calm down or your make up will smear from the sweat. Think about something else. Try not to focus on the wedding. Why don't you think about your past with Harry? Tell me about your memories with him." Hermione insisted. "Well we did start dating under uncomfortable circumstances. Cedric had died the year before and I was extremely depressed. He walked up to me one day and asked if I would join him in going to Hogsmade. I thought he meant with the rest of the school so I was very confused when he told me to meet him Saturday morning in the Charms classroom. He swore me to secrecy when he showed me the secret passage. We came out in Honeydukes and he bought me some chocolate frogs and some other candy then we headed to the Three Broomsticks where Madame Rosemerta was not at all shocked to see us. In fact she said Harry was just like his father always in Hogsmade illegally and bringing pretty girls for a drink. Then did some shopping and headed back to Honeydukes, which to our dismay was closed. I started crying because I was afraid of being expelled. He held me till I stopped crying and told me there was another way back to the school. We talked on the long walk back and he told me the story of Sirius Black. I knew he was telling the truth because there was this look in his eye when he mentioned Sirius. It was love and respect. On the other hand when he mentioned that rat Pettigrew-- when we got back he asked if he could see me again and I had had such a great time I readily agreed." Cho said with a faraway look in her eye. She looked Hermione in the eye and said, "I really do love him. Now I'm not as afraid anymore. I know he'll take care of me and that he loves me so I have no reason to be afraid." She smiled.  
  
The piano began playing music and the bridesmaids walked down the isle. Next came little Hope spreading rose petals on the floor, and finally the moment arrived. Harry vaguely heard the priest ask everyone to rise as the tune "Here comes the bride" began. Harry's breath was caught in his throat when Cho appeared in the isle and began walking with her father towards him.  
When Cho finally reached him she handed her bouquet to Hermione and held both his hands. The priest began his speech but Harry could not hear over the blood pounding in his ears. Then it was time to say their vows first the traditional then the ones they had written.  
"Harry Potter, do you take Cho Chang to be your lawful wedded wife, to cherish to hold, in sickness and in health, till death do you part?"  
"I do." Harry said over the pounding sound in his ears.  
"And do you, Cho Chang, take Harry Potter to be your lawful wedded husband, to cherish to hold, in sickness and in health, till death do you part?"  
"I do."  
"Cho, my love, everyday that we're together I fall more in love with you. In my heart I know that I will never reach the bottom, for I can never love you too much. You are my life, I love you." Harry vowed with love and trust noticeable in his shaking voice.  
"Harry, you brought me from grief to a never ending hill of joy. Everyday you show me how much you love me and the stronger our love becomes the harder it is to stay away from you. I will love you from now till eternity." Cho said with tears in her eyes.  
"Do you have the rings?" the priest asked and Ron handed them to Harry.  
"The rings are a symbol of your love unbroken and shinning, they show the world the vows you made here today." the priest said as Harry put the ring on Cho's hand and she in turn put the ring on Harry's hand.  
"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride." Harry kissed Cho passionately and then they began to walk down the isle arm in arm. "I present to you the Potters." The priest finished and everyone clapped. A/N Like it hit the button 


	3. The Reception

Disclaimer: See chapter 1 Chapter 3: The Reception  
  
The reception went smoothly at first. Cho and Harry danced their first dance as husband and wife and had a few other dances as well. They accepted congrats, then it was time to eat. They all sat down and carried on friendly conversations when an uninvited guest appeared. Or rather three.  
The room went quite as Draco Malfoy and his cronies burst through the door. "You started the party without us? I'm hurt. I feel so unwanted." Malfoy stated and pretended to start crying.  
"That's because you're not wanted, Malfoy. So get you're evil ass out of here so we can finish celebrating Harry and Cho's wedding" Ron said as he stood up fuming.  
Malfoy who was now looking up and down the top table caught sight of Hermione's stomach. " So you got the Mudblood pregnant and Harry finally married the slut he was dating. This is supposed to be happiness? You fools- " he was cut off with a punch in the face that drove him into the wall. Crabbe and Goyle tried to hit Harry back but Harry's reflexes from so many years of Quidditch were too fast for them. He quickly performed the full body bind on the two of them. He walked over to Malfoy who was just recovering from the blow. Harry grabbed him by the collar and shoved him against the wall. "If you ever say another bad thing to, and/or touch either Cho or Hermione again I will personally make sure you pay dearly. I'll half kill you and if you do it again after that I can't guarantee that I won't kill you." Harry told him through clenched teeth. Harry dropped him and glared, "Now leave or you will be escorted out." He headed back to the top table. Malfoy freed Crabbe and Goyle and headed out the door his pale face now slightly pink from embarrassment. Malfoy stopped to look in the mirror at the black eye already forming. "When did Potter get so strong and fast? I'll get him back for this embarrassment." Malfoy muttered to himself. The reception continued with only little note to the fact that Harry had just beat up Malfoy. Ron hit his glass with his fork to get everyone's attention. "Listen up. I would like to propose a toast to the happy couple whom nothing can discourage today. May you always love each other and keep each other safe. And Cho don't make Harry sleep on the couch to many times we all know how annoying he can get. Good luck and may you have lots of rugrats." Ron raised his glass. "To Harry and Cho." "To Harry and Cho." Everyone repeated. The moment no one was looking Harry smacked Ron upside the head. "Why did you embarrass me like that? I didn't do that to you at your wedding." "Yeah well it was my toast and such I mean its not like you could have said that I was annoying because I'm not nearly as bad as you." Ron said in a confident tone completely unaware of Hermione standing behind him. "Personally I think that you are more annoying but that might have something to do with living with you. Now stop debating and dance with me." She told him making him jump. They enjoyed a few dances before Harry was cornered by Sirius. " I never thought that I would be here for my godson's wedding. It seems like just yesterday I watched as your mom and dad were married. Of coarse you didn't forget your vows Lily had to mouth him the words he was so nervous. I think your dad knew he wouldn't be here for your wedding because he told me the first time I held you that I would be your godfather he pulled me out of Lily's earshot and made me promise to give you a gift from him on your wedding day if he wasn't there. So here I am rambling about what he wanted me to give you." He handed Harry a nicely wrapped box. A card was attached. He was just about to open it when Cho took it from him. "What's this?" she asked looking at the box, which looked like it was wrapped a very long time ago. "I dunno. Sirius just told me that my dad told him to give it to me on my wedding day if he wasn't able to attend. I would like to open it but I guess now's not the time." "Read the card. Then maybe we will have a clue as to what it is." Harry opened the card. The cover had a picture of some white roses and lilies and the word Congratulations underneath. He slowly opened the card. On the inside cover, someone had written a very lengthy note in beautiful handwriting. It read:  
  
Dearest Harry and to the beautiful woman whom he has wed,  
If you are reading this then we were unable to attend your wedding/reception for causes that are unknown to me. First off Lily and myself offer you our congratulations on finding true love and hope that you are as happy as we are. As it is my hope that our grandchildren know about our adventures at Hogwarts (especially those concerning the Maurders) we have created a journal of our lives thus far. It contains both of our adventures, important events, and has the story of how we met so forth and so on. It also has our thoughts on certain matters and has our marriage certificate and numerous photographs of our lives. There is also a surprise for the two of you as well that I will tell you as it is a surprise. Well I must leave room for Lily to write so I shall say goodbye and good luck.  
Love your father/father-in-law,  
  
James Potter  
Harry stared at the note from his father for a few seconds. Cho looked shocked but took the card from him to read the note from Harry's mom.  
  
Dear Harry and my new Daughter,  
As James said if you are reading this we were unable to attend which means that we are deceased because nothing but death could stop me from attending my son's wedding. Although currently you are only a few days old I have this strange feeling that I will not be there for a lot of your life. Therefore I wish you luck on the rest of your life and hope that you have had a good childhood and I want you to know I love you with all my heart.  
Now to my new daughter. I have no idea who you are but I sincerely hope that you will live along life that was obviously taken from me. Take as good care of Harry as I know he will you (if he's anything like his father that is). I really hope you have a wonderful life together and here's hoping your children don't get James prankster genes (which his mother barley told me he had since he was a toddler) or his rule breaking genes. If your children do get those genes I pity you very much. James and company were the teachers nightmare so I can imagine having to raise children like that. Well I'm probably scaring you but I do hope you have as many wonderful children as you would like.  
Well I must say goodbye now. I love you both very much and good luck with the future. Oh and if you see Sirius tell him hi for us.  
  
Love always and ever,  
  
Lily Evans Potter  
"Hey Harry! Cho! Its time for you to cut the cake. What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost." Hermione said as she walked over to them. Harry was still staring at the card. He had put the box on the table and now was to stunned to even realize that someone was talking to him. Hermione took the card out of his hand. She quickly read it and gasped.  
"What's the hold up over there?" the photographer shouted.  
This brought Harry back to the present he suddenly was ready to go back to the party. Cho looked as if she was ready to go back to celebrating too so he took her hand and walked over to the cake looking happier than ever. They cut the cake and fed each other the traditional first piece. The reception went perfect the rest of the way and as they left for their honeymoon Harry stopped to grab the card and box of journals not intending on letting it out of his site. 


	4. Return to Hogwarts

Disclaimer: See chapter 1 Chapter 4: Return to Hogwarts  
  
**Two months later**  
  
"A couple of start of term reminders before you go to your common rooms. First the Forbidden Forest is forbidden. A list of all items banned from the school is on the door to our caretaker, Mr. Filch's office. Any item on that list found will be confiscated. And now I would like to introduce our new teachers. First our new Quidditch teacher Mr. Harry Potter, see your head of house for details on the class, and our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers Mrs. Hermione Weasley and Mr. Sirius Black who will be taking over for a few months while Mrs. Weasley has her babies. Otherwise he will be helping and I remind you that as this may be the first year they teach here all three know more about this school than even I do. So don't try to sneak around when they are watching. Goodnight you have classes tomorrow." Dumbledore said as he gestured to the doors. He turned to Harry. "So do you still remember your way around?"  
"Of course I do. In fact I can still get to Hogsmade in record time. Which by the way I didn't think about how often Cho and I will get to see each other. I guess just for a few hours on weekends." Harry said glumly.  
"Why doesn't Mrs. Potter stay here with you? We have plenty of room for you two to live on a day-to-day basis. In fact I think there is a room not to far from Griffindor Tower that would do just perfectly. Right behind the statue of Fredrick Emmanu. Go pick up Cho and I'll set the password. It will have a lock too of coarse but what would you like the password to be?"  
  
**The next Monday, Harry's first class.**  
  
"Good morning class." Harry said to the mass of Ravenclaw and Griffindor third years.  
There were a few mumbled good mornings. A small girl in back raised her hand. "What's your name and what can I do for you?" Harry asked kindly.  
  
"Emily Thomas, Sir, and I was wondering if you were the Harry Potter," she said shyly.  
"First off don't be afraid to ask questions. If I find they are too personal to answer I won't but this is my first time teaching, well officially anyway, and I'm happy to answer questions. Anyway, yes I am Harry Potter, boy-who-lived, famous seeker, so forth and so on. But yes and before you asked yes most of the rumors about my school days here are true. Anyway onto the lesson. How many of you have never played Quidditch?"  
A few students raised their hands. "Ok so not all of you have its nothing to be ashamed of." He added the last part when he saw a few of the people blush. "I had never even heard of Quiddidtch when I came to school and still had no idea how to play when I got put on the team."  
"I've got to see this." A voice said from behind. "You going to show them how to fall off your broom like you did the first time I saw you play."  
Harry turned around. "Look everyone its Professor Black. And by the way Sirius its your fault I fell off the broom you were the one the dementors were after when they were at school and you know full well that was the only reason I fell. Anyway I was just going to demonstrate what a bludger can do you want to help? I'll let you hit it at me."  
"Actually I came to tell you Hermione wanted you to visit her class of first years Friday and tell them your stories but I'm not going to pass up this chance."  
  
**Friday Defense Against the Dark Arts Griffindors and Hufflepuffs**  
  
"Class I've asked Professor Potter to speak to you on how to defend with whatever you have. Which is what I'm going to try to teach you this year." Hermione told her class.  
The class was quiet as Harry took Hermione's spot. "Um this isn't really my area of expertise so um." Harry began.  
"Excuse me? Not your area of expertise? What planet are you on? You survived Voldemort's curse when you were a year old, took out a full grown mountain troll after two months in Hogwarts, got through the trials to get to the Sorcerer's Stone in the end of your first year, wandered into the Chamber of Secrets and took out the Basilisk without the use of a wand in your second year, repelled a dozen dementors and broke Sirius out of Hogwarts without anyone seeing you in third year, won the Triwizard tournament and survived a duel with the resurrected Voldemort in your fourth year, and the numerous things you did in your fifth year including teach a bunch of us Defense Against the Dark Arts when we weren't learning it in class, shall I go on?" her tone was very strict.  
"Well you just awed these kids with what I've done so I guess I'm stuck. By the way class your teacher here helped me with almost all of it. She was the brightest student in all of our year and could do any spell, create any potion, and quote every text book especially Hogwarts, A History. And before you say it yes I finally realized that you can't apparate or Dissapperate on Hogwarts grounds. So which adventure would you like to know about class?"  
  
***Mid November Harry's class 6th year all houses***  
  
"Settle Down. Settle Down." Harry said as he walked onto the pitch. No one heard him. Right then. "Next person that talks is out of my class." Silence followed. "Thank you. Now today we're going to have our first 'game'. I'll divide you into teams."  
He was just about to start the game when he suddenly stopped. Cho was approaching the class. She looked nervous. "Can I trust you guys not to kill each other if I leave you alone for a few minutes? Get to know your teams they will be your team for the rest of the year." He gave them all a glare as if to say 'if you do try to kill each other you will wish you never came to Hogwarts', then headed over to meet Cho.  
"What's wrong, hon?" he asked quite concerned. It was not normal for Cho to show up in his class unexpected. Normally she would mention it in the morning but now showing up unexpected and in the middle of class at that. something is wrong.  
"Harry we need to talk. Privately. Can you get someone to watch your class? Its urgent." she looked a little nervous and her voice shook.  
"Sure, I'll get Sirius to watch the class." He walked back to the class. "Hey John. Do me a favor, can you go get Professor Black for me tell him to hurry over here." He told a rather athletic and cocky Hufflepuff. John thought that this class was too easy and boy did Harry have a surprise for him. The guy played seeker on the Hufflepuff house team and Harry planned to play him to bring his ego down a notch.  
A few minutes later Sirius came running out of the building Harry ran to head him off. "What's so urgent?" he asked gasping for breath.  
"I need you to watch the class, Cho said she needed to talk to me privately and that it couldn't wait so I sent for you. Don't let them kill each other. And thank you so much." Harry hurried off to catch up with Cho who was already almost to the entrance of the school.  
When they finally were in their room Harry sat on the bed and asked, "What's so important that you had to interrupt my class? Its not normal for you to come so unexpectedly."  
"Harry, love, I'm pregnant." She said as if she was afraid of his reaction. He just stared openmouthed for a few moments. Then a smile spread across his face. He stood up and pulled her into a hug.  
"I'm going to be a father. This is great. How far along are you?" He couldn't stop grinning.  
"Only about three weeks but so far its healthy. So you are really happy about this?"  
"Of course I am. I love you with all of my heart and this baby is the result of that so of course I'm happy."  
"We should head to dinner. Don't want to look suspicious ditching half your class then showing up to dinner late."  
They headed to dinner. They took their normal places next to Hermione and Sirius. Sirius immediately leaned over, "what was that about? What was so urgent?" he asked quietly.  
"I'm going to be a daddy. That's what was so important."  
Sirius stared at Harry for a moment. His face broke out in a huge grin. "Well, congrats. I think its---" he trailed off when Hermione gasped and held her abdomen. Harry and Sirius immediately stood up and helped Hermione out of her chair. Harry put his arm around her waist and hers around his shoulder and helped her limp out of the room. Sirius clearing the path in front. Cho ran to the fire to contact Ron.  
After about three hour Ron came out of the hospital wing holding two little bundles. The one on the right was blue and the other was pink.  
"Harry look. Aren't they just cute? Wanna hold them? Here this is Isiah," he said as he handed the baby in blue to Harry, "and this is Casandra." He said handing the other to Cho. Sirius was just coming around the corner leading Hope to meet her siblings after he had taken her to play for a bit.  
Harry looked down at the child in his arms. Soon enough I'll have one of my own to look after, he thought. As if reading his mind Sirius patted him on the back. "A few more months Harry. Then you'll have one of your own." This made Ron look up. "You're gonna have one too?" He said utterly perplexed. "Just found out today. Soon I'll get to be a father." Madam Pomfrey ame out and informed them they could go in to see Hermione. As the door to the Hospital wing closed a boy emerged from his hiding place down the hall. "Wow, the professor is going to be a dad. I have to tell the others." He said to himself as he ran back to his common room.  
  
By the next morning the whole school knew. Harry was at first shocked when a first year Ravenclaw congratulated him and told him that she hoped the baby would be healthy. Everyone was dying to see the twins but Madam Pomfrey would let no near them until she felt they would be able be away from the hospital wing. 


	5. Troubles

Disclaimer: See chapter 1 Chapter 5: Troubles  
  
**A week later**  
  
"Harry wake up. Your late!" Cho said as she shook Harry. He was normally good at waking up on time but he was off for some reason today. She began to think of why that could be when he sat up her words barley clicking, as he hurriedly got dressed. He gave her a quick kiss and bolted out the door.  
She decided to go eat a late breakfast and maybe head into Hogsmade today after lunch. When she walked into the great hall it was slowly empting. She helped herself to some food and began chatting with Dumbledore. On her way to tell Harry of her plans for the day a hand reached out of nowhere and pulled her into a room. The person responsible quickly did a full body bind on her before she could comprehend the situation much less react to it.  
A few hours later Harry was frantic. Cho never missed lunch with him. It had become routine to meet at lunch with Sirius and Hermione. Now that he thought about it Hermione wasn't here either. He hurried to Hermione's room. To his relief she was there looking around the room franticly as if she'd lost something.  
"Whatcha looking for?" he asked.  
"The twins. They were here five minutes ago they couldn't have gone anywhere they aren't even two weeks old." She started tearing the room apart looking everywhere for the tiny children.  
Suddenly Harry thought of something. The Maurder's Map! He could use that to locate the twins and Cho. He sprinted back to his room. He grabbed the parchment and tapped it with his wand. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." He stated and the map of Hogwarts appeared with the little dots moving around. He looked everywhere even in the forbidden forest but to no avail. There was no sign of either Cho or the twins. They weren't on school grounds. They could be anywhere.  
Harry ran still clutching the map straight to Dumbledore's office. "Sir, Cho and the twins are missing! I think they have been kidnapped. What should I do? Oh God. What if she's hurt? Or worse the baby? The twins what about them they can't even talk much less defend themselves. Who could have done this? How did they get into the school without getting caught? Better yet how did they get out of the school with Cho and the twins without getting caught? What a---" he stopped when Dumbledore raised a hand.  
"First off you need to calm down. Now I'm going to call Mr. Weasley while you go get Mrs. Weasley and we will figure this out together. Also you need to notify Madam Hooch to take your class until further notice. Can you do that or do I have to get Madam Pomfrey to give you a mild sedative until you can calm enough to think?"  
" I can do that sir. And thank you." Harry said calming himself as he walked out of the room. He did as he was asked and was soon back in the office with Ron listening from the fire.  
"Now when did you first notice Cho was missing?" Dumbledore asked Harry quite calmly.  
"About 12:20 when we usually have lunch with Hermione and Sirius. She didn't show up so I checked our room but she wasn't there. So I went to ask Hermione if she had seen her and discovered her looking for the twins. This doesn't help much because the last time I saw her was when I kissed her goodbye this morning and hurrying out the door. Which is around three and a half hours where I didn't see her." He explained hastily.  
"Well we can limit it down a bit more because she had breakfast with me this morning and left the great hall around 8:45. She mentioned going to watch your first class so I'm assuming she never showed up."  
"Professor that would limit it down to the 15 maybe 20 minutes in between when she left the Great Hall and when Harry's class was supposed to start. How can this help us? We would need some sort of surveillance to figure out who was wondering the halls at that time." Ron stated from the fire.  
" That's it. We have figured out the time frame, which gave us locations to work from. Locations in this school are all watched by paintings, ghosts, or teachers. Not a part of this school is really unwatched. Especially the area by the entrance hall so that the headmaster is always aware of what's going on around the school. So if we talk to some of the portraits we might be able to get a description of the kidnapper from one of them." Hermione said, her face suddenly full of hope.  
"And this is why you are one of Britain's best Aurors. Now let us investigate. Harry you take the path you always take to your class. I'll take the corridor by your room. Hermione you can take the corridor by your room. Let's go. Meet back here when you are done." Dumbledore instructed them.  
Harry ran towards the Great Hall and slammed full force into one of the students. The Slytherin boy looked shocked as he stood and brushed himself off. Harry was about to continue running when he realized what had happened. He turned to the boy. "What are you doing out of class. You better have a really good excuse."  
"Might I ask why you are not doing what you are paid to do? I am a prefect and I should not be questioned by someone who is not even doing their job." The boy said arrogantly.  
"Normally I am forgiving. Currently I am under a lot of stress and personally I don't care what you are. Prefect or not you should be in class and respect your teachers. In fact I would think that because you are a prefect you should know better. Ten points from Slytherin for being out of class and another ten points for disrespecting the teacher now back to class or I'll add a few detentions to the list. And a word of advice," Harry stated as the Slytherin began to walk away, "bring down the ego and cockiness a bit and it'll save you a whole lot of problems."  
Harry went back to running. He reached the Great Hall and asked the picture of an old lady if she had seen Cho. Harry was soon down to the last painting in which a disgruntled looking man responded to his question. "I saw her. She didn't look like she knew what was going on. Looked like someone put her in a full body bind. I bet it was that man that was behind her. Him and his companions didn't look like they were supposed to be here. Those babies didn't look to happy with the group either." The man shrugged.  
"What did they look like? Did they say anything?"  
"Tall about three inches more than you pointed face slicked back blond hair, pail. The other two were big and stupid looking. They said something about a cave in the hills in Hogsmade. I didn't get all of the conversation but I did get that. I hope you find those poor kids and that nice young lady. Cho is her name right she stops to talk to me once in a while. I hope she's all right." The man went back to whatever he was doing before. 


	6. Reunion

A/N No one is reviewing. Worthless bums. I'm wounded. Oh well thanks to Mistygirl01 for reviewing this chapter is for you. Alex I haven't gotten your review but you get thanks cause you are my editor(well sort of). The rest of you bums review!!! Disclaimer: See chapter 1 Chapter 6: Reunion  
Harry, Ron and Hermione reached the cave just outside of Hogsmade. They had devised a simple plan to rescue Cho and the twins. They would go into the cave under the invisibility cloak and stun the culprits. From their they would restrain (put the full body bind) on them and turn them over to the Ministry officials. Simple enough.  
"On the count of three. One.Two.Three! Stupefy!" They shouted aiming their wands at the kidnappers. With the combined strength of the three spells, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle fell to the ground stunned. Harry ran in and unjinxed Cho. "Are you all right baby?" Harry asked as he helped her stand unsteadily.  
Ron and Hermione were holding on to the twins, after stunning Crabbe and Goyle, as if they would never let them go. Harry had yet to stun Malfoy. This of coarse was not the plan. Once Cho could stand on her own again Harry walked over to Malfoy who was slowly recovering. "I swore to you that I would make you pay if you touched them again. Now you have really done it. You kidnap my wife endangering both her and my child, and you kidnap and endanger my godchildren. You think you can weasel your way out of this one. Or should I say ferret. Maybe I should turn you into a ferret and bounce you around." He kicked Malfoy in the gut.  
"Harry please don't. Don't sink to his level. You don't want to be known as a bully. Just come on I want to go home. Leave the little rat to his filth and tricks. Please love lets go." Cho asked Harry not fearing for Malfoy's safely but for Harry's. She didn't want him to get sent to Azkaban for attempted murder.  
He looked at her, gave Malfoy one more kick in the ribs, took her hand, and led her safely down the hill all the way back to Hogwarts. Ron and Hermione followed silently.  
  
**Eight months later**  
  
"Harry! Cho's in labor you better get there quick!" Sirius yelled while running to the Quidditch pitch. Harry didn't even pause to tell Sirius to watch the class he just flew to the entrance hall before dismounting and running to join Cho in the hospital wing. He quickly knelt by her side and took her hand immediately wincing as she tried to break his fingers. When the contraction stopped Madam Pomfrey listened to the babies heartbeat. A worried look crossed her face.  
"What is it? What's wrong?" Harry asked worried by the look.  
"The baby is under a lot of stress and has been for a while. The baby's heartbeat is dropping. You put to much stress on the baby in the early months. The baby will be fine if we can get it out fast enough." She began checking Cho again.  
If this baby doesn't survive I'm going to kill Malfoy. He is the cause of the stress. This is his fault. Harry thought angrily. The good news was that Cho was already ready to push. Soon the crying of a baby filled the room. Harry let out a sigh of relief as Cho let go of his hand.  
"It's a girl. Now I need to clean her up and check her health then you can show her off and hold her." Madam Pomfrey said as she took the baby to the side.  
"What are we going to name her? We didn't ever come to a decision." Harry asked a very tired Cho.  
She smiled at him. "I thought we could name her Lily after your mom after all she loved you so much she died for you. I want to think of that kind of love every time I look at her because its what I feel. What do you think?"  
Tears were in Harry's eyes as he thought of his mom and his newborn daughter. "I can't think of a better name for her." He kissed her on the forehead and waited for Madam Pomfrey to bring little Lily back.  
Soon the sounds of the students heading to the Great Hall for lunch drifted into the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey brought Lily over and Harry decided it was time for Sirius to meet little Lily. He walked into the Great Hall holding the tiny infant and all sound ceased. Harry headed straight for Sirius and Hermione and showed them his little girl.  
"So what did you name her Harry? Or is she nameless still?" Sirius asked taking the baby into his arms. The students watched with awe.  
"Lily. Her name is Lily." he smiled down at her then looked up at Dumbledore who was looking at her with a twinkle in his eye. After Lily was passed to the whole staff table to hold Harry took her out of Hagrid's enormous hands. "I better get her back to her mom before she kills me. I'll be right back to get us some food." He gazed at her as he walked back to the hospital wing. She stared back with her bright green eyes looking at him with such love that he swore right then that he would do everything to protect her. 


	7. Aftermath

Disclaimer: see first chapter.  
  
A/N: Still I don't get reviews is my story that bad? I'm updating so you don't have to hunt me down.  
  
Chapter 7: The Aftermath  
  
Harry sat up at the sound of Lily screaming. That girl had a set of lungs on her. He got up and stumbled over to the crib in the corner. "It's ok little one Daddy's here. Shh. That's better now what do you need. Oh that's what you wanted you were just lonely. All right I'll sit with you but we can't do this every night." He told her as he picked her up and rocked her. She quieted down just listening to his heartbeat. She soon began to fall back asleep. Harry was too tired to stand up and fell asleep in the chair he was sitting in.  
  
"Hey, wake up. Harry if you don't get up soon you're going to be running late." Cho said as she gently shook Harry awake. He began to stir as she took Lily out of his arms.  
"What time is it?" He asked as he stretched and yawned.  
"8:00. If you want time to get ready for your class you better get dressed now."  
  
** Class that day. About 20 minutes before lunch.**  
  
"Sir, What's wrong? You don't look to good. You look like you could fall off your broom if you keep flying." One of the students asked.  
"Huh? What? Oh yeah. Lily has been keeping me up at night I think something is giving her nightmares because she wakes up at 2am and all she wants is me to hold her. The rest of the time she needs something but everyday at 2am I have to rock her to sleep. I don't know what is causing it."  
"Maybe she has dreams where you get hurt or something. Then she only goes to sleep when she know you are safe. Try sleeping for a couple of days with her on your heart that might keep her asleep. It's what my mom had to do with me. Or maybe she's just a Daddy's girl." She suggested.  
"Maybe all the stress Mrs. Potter had while she was pregnant had some sort of effect where it is hard for Lily to sleep without a heartbeat to set hers to. I've heard of it happening. Either way you had better get some rest cause you sure can't help us if you fall asleep on your broom." Another student stated.  
As if on cue Harry swayed on his broom as his eyes began to drift shut. The two students he'd been talking to guided him down and to the hospital wing. "Madam Pomfrey?" one of the students called.  
She hurried over and asked what was wrong with him. He said he wasn't getting much sleep because Lily keeps waking wanting him to hold her. He said its always at the same time and she falls asleep after a few minutes of him holding her." The student responded helping Harry over to the bed.  
"Go to lunch both of you. One of you can get Mrs. Potter and the baby and the other can get the Headmaster." She said as she pushed them towards the door.  
After a few minutes Cho came hurrying in Lily in her arms, Dumbledore right behind her. "What's wrong with him?" she asked almost panicking.  
"Oh he's just exhausted. He apparently hasn't been getting much sleep so that's all he need's right now. I called you here to let you know he's here and to see if I can find what is wrong with Lily. It appears that she wakes at the same time every night wanting nothing but to be held by her father. Did you know about this Cho?" she told the panicked Cho as she reached for Lily.  
"No he didn't tell me about this. I know he gets up for her feedings and sometimes changes her at night but I didn't know about any holding sessions."  
"That is because you worry about her enough. She just wants my attention. I'm not around much during the day so I think she uses the middle of the night to get attention from me. I-" Harry stopped at a glare from Madam Pomfrey.  
"You have not had enough rest yet. Five minutes will not get you out of here so go back to sleep or I will give you a potion that will knock you out for a couple of days your choice." She glared at him as he turned over facing away from them and went back to sleep.  
They moved the discussion to Madam Pomfrey's office. "Poppy, make sure he gets rest I'm going to ask Madam Hooch to take over for a few days so that he can get a proper rest. Try and find a way to solve this problem and of coarse find out what the problem is." Dumbledore told her before he left the office to find a substitute.  
  
**The next day. Dumbledore's office**  
  
"Nothing was found wrong with the tests. Lily is perfectly healthy and we still don't know what the problem is. She cried herself to exhaustion when she woke this morning. She woke right at two and would not stop crying no matter what I did. She wants Harry and will not take no for an answer." Cho told him stifling a yawn.  
"We can't keep this up. Harry needs sleep, as do you. Try letting her sleep on Harry's heart. That's about the only solution I can think of until I can get my pensive back. A friend of mine has it right now but I think we can take Lily's dreams out and look at them in the pensive. If its nightmares that would be the only way to know. Why don't you let me take Lily today so you can get some sleep. Go on now." Dumbledore took Lily and gestured Cho to the door. "She will be fine. I think I'll contact my friend so he can bring my pensive back. Have a good rest."  
Cho reluctantly left the room to head to her own. Harry had been released from the hospital wing but was told to get some more sleep. Cho walked in to fid him sound asleep still and she crawled into bed next to him. He stirred a little bit and she calmly reassured him that there was no need to wake as they both fell into a deep sleep.  
  
**That night.**  
"Come on little one. Time for you to go to sleep. Hopefully you won't wake tonight cause I don't know what else to do." Harry said as he crawled into bed with Cho positioning Lily on his heart. They all slept deeply and Lily was reassured that her father was ok by his steadily beating heart. That didn't stop the dreams from coming just stopped her from having to wake up to check on Daddy.  
  
A/N that can't have been so bad that you won't review so how about you review as I said earlier flames are accepted. 


	8. The End of an Interesting Year part 1

Disclaimer: see first chapter  
  
A/N Oops. I noticed that when calculating Lily's Birthday to see where I was in the story a problem occurred. Therefore the scene where Harry finds out about Cho being pregnant takes place in mid September. Sorry if that threw you off that makes the current month may and towards the end of the month at that. If anyone has a date they want Lily's birthday to be on (in may) please tell me. Thanks and sorry for the mistake.  
  
Chapter 8: The End of an Interesting year (part 1)  
Thing's were starting to become a routine for Harry and Cho now. Although Lily still insisted on sleeping on her Daddy's chest, Harry was no longer sleep deprived and was back to teaching his classes. Cho often helped different teachers with their classes except of coarse Snape (who still had not gotten the DADA job and hadn't been to happy when Hermione and Sirius got the job instead of him.  
Ron had moved the major part of his shop from Diagon Alley to Hogsmade so that he could see Hermione more without missing too much work. Hope was thrilled at this idea and spent a great deal of time with playing at Hogwarts with the twins and Lily under Cho's watchful eye.  
Exams were coming quickly and many of the students in Harry's class were becoming a bit stressed. "Sir, will we have an exam in this class?" one such student asked.  
"Of course we will. This is not extra credit. You get a grade for this class so of course you will have one. It won't be that difficult though you seekers just have to beat me at getting the snitch or you fail the class but that's not that difficult. Right?" he looked at the two seekers who had paled considerably. "I'm joking. It will be something like Quidditch tryouts. I will have Professor Black and my wife helping me. She is a pretty good chaser though she was an even better seeker. And Mr. Weasley will probably help for the keeper job. We will just test how much progress you've made. Unless you don't practice you shouldn't fail."  
  
**Dinner that day**  
  
"Before we begin to eat today I must announce that we will be having an end of the year ball. Dress robes are optional. It will be held the Saturday after exams finish. Last Hogsmade weekend is the Saturday before exams. All ages are allowed to attend." Dumbledore announced as the food appeared.  
As the students ate and talked excitedly about the upcoming event, the teachers were trying to keep straight faces as Lily, who was being held by Professor McGonagal, found something that was quite fun to play with. She was cooing and blowing bubbles as she pulled on Dumbledore's long silver beard. He just grinned down at her and reached in his pocket for his wand. With a wave of his wand a rattle appeared in front of him. He handed it to Lily who looked at the toy for a few seconds. Dumbledore chuckled as she threw the toy aside and grabbed onto his beard once more.  
He finally gave in and put the little girl on his lap as he ate dinner. Hagrid was telling Harry about the new creatures he was thinking of training. Sirius and Ron(who was visiting) were having a conversation about who knows what while Hermione and Cho were busy figuring out what to do for the ball. They wanted to go but the children would be a problem.  
Dinner progressed and the students actually seemed at ease. The final Quidditch game of the season Griffindor vs. Ravenclaw would prove to be quite interesting as both teams had insisted that all their team members take the Quidditch class. The topics in conversation continued to change at random when an owl came flying through the door. Everyone watched as it flew towards Dumbledore. He quickly read the note and passed it to Harry and Cho. Their faces broke out into smiles as they showed it to Sirius, Hagrid, Ron, and Hermione.  
The letter read: Dear friends at Hogwarts, It has been quite a while since I have been by to visit so I decided to come by. Hope you are all doing all right. I want to hear about everything that has gone on at Hogwarts since we last spoke. Hope the children are alright. I will arrive early tomorrow morning. See you then. Take care, Remus Lupin.  
  
** The next morning.**  
  
"Cho time to get up. Remus will be here in a little while. You do want to see him right?" Harry said as he shook her gently. He began getting Lily ready as he did most mornings.  
"I'm up. I'm up." She responded groggily.  
They reached the Great Hall to find it almost empty. Cho groaned figuring she could have slept longer. As they sat down for breakfast Dumbledore came over to talk to them. "My friend contacted me yesterday and told me he would bring the pensive back as soon as he was finished with the meeting he is at. Most likely we can see Lily's dreams by tomorrow afternoon." Harry was about to answer when Remus walked in the door. "Good Morning everyone." He said cheerily as he walked towards the Head Table. Harry hurried over to Remus. (Over the years they had developed a special bond, Remus was like Harry's uncle) "Look at what the cat dragged in." "More like dog." Remus muttered nodding his head back at Sirius. "So this is the beautiful Lily. She's got your mother's eye's just like you." Lily stared at him for a moment trying to decide if she liked him. She reached for him making different gurgling sounds and he smiled. "So this is how you charmed Padfoot into buying you all those gifts." He laughed as he took her in his arms. "You should see her with her favorite toy, Dumbledore's beard, she won't give it up very willingly." Harry smiled at the thought. "I don't mind. Now how about we eat a bit of breakfast." Dumbledore said coming up behind Harry. They made their way over to the table and Harry settled back into his usual seat passing Lily to Cho. Remus went around and hugged Hermione who was feeding the twins. "And how are the little trouble makers doing?" he asked her gesturing at the twins. "Good and don't you dare buy them prank stuff. Sirius, Fred and George already covered that. They are already enough trouble without more help." Remus laughed and messed up their hair. He was rewarded by a spoonful of oatmeal in the face. Ron handed him a napkin while trying to contain his laughter. Remus then turned his attention to Hope. "And how is the little Princess doing?" he asked her as he twirled her around. "Will you play with me Moony? Please?" she asked in a sweet pleading tone. "Of coarse I will but lets eat breakfast first." He sat her down next to him but she would have none of that. She crawled into his lap and began to eat her oatmeal. "Look Moony is loved by the little kids. I have to say I'm a little jealous. Hey why don't kids like me like that?" Sirius asked quite confused. "That dear Padfoot is because I am nice to them I don't get a thrill from scaring them. So how are you doing Cho?" Remus said turning his attention from Sirius. "Good, but I think this little one has inherited her Grandfather's troublemaking genes. Honestly waking Harry up all the time." She shook her head and turned back to Remus. "And you?" "Quite good actually. Oh before I forget I brought some souvenirs from my trip." He took out his bag and began rummaging through it. "For the princess." He handed a little tiara to Hope. "For little Isiah and Cassandra I bought baby broomsticks, don't worry they have mats that follow them everywhere." He handed the packages to a exited Ron. "For Sirius actually I just decided you should have it back" he handed Sirius a set of keys. "They go to your motorcycle. I found it after all these years. Hermione I was going to buy you a book but you have enough of those so I bought you a music box. See if you open it, it starts playing music to comfort and make you happy if you are depressed or lonely. It also does a wonderful little light show where these little lights form into people and they dance around the music box. It's really neat." He handed her a little glass box that was tinted in different colors and all together quite beautiful. "Cho I heard about the ball and I know that with the baby you haven't been able to go shopping so I bought you a dress. There is a spell on it that enables the owner to change its color for a unique appearance. Ron here it's a transport tile so that you can ship things from store to store without difficulty. Albus, I brought you random crazy styles of socks. Hagrid a book about dragons and a little model dragon as you can't own real one. And Harry. I brought you a snitch so you can play with it when you are bored like your father used to do." As he released the snitch and Harry started to grab it, it was suddenly grabbed by someone else. Remus burst out in laughter as he realized that Lily was clinging tightly to the golden snitch. He distinctly heard Cho mutter under her breath, "Just like her father." Which made him laugh even harder.  
  
**The next morning**  
  
"Now to extract her dreams from her mind we need her to be completely relaxed. Harry as you seem to be the one who can get her to relax easily please hold her while I find her dreams." Dumbledore instructed as he took out his wand. The silver thoughts were put inside the basin and Dumbledore tapped the basin with his wand. A scene appeared. It was dark and frightening and a little figure lay on the ground bawling. Harry stood in front of the figure throwing curses at some unseen enemy. The figure began bawling louder distracting Harry and a curse hit him in the chest. He fell backwards and it was apparent that he was unconscious. A figure began to creep out of the shadows toward Lily. Harry opened his eyes and saw the figure and muttered another curse. "Stay away from my daughter. I won't let you hurt her," the dream Harry shouted. The shadow lifted his wand and the dream ended.  
  
A/N ah the suspense. I don't know when the next chapter will be up because my editor will probably post it so sadly I cant tell you when to expect it. Thanks for all the reviews. You almost had me in tears. And for those of you who are concerned about my characters I take that as a compliment that they are lifelike enough for you to worry about them. If you have idea's for the story or just feel like talking to me my e-mail is thethirdtroll@yahoo.com please do put in the subject that it is about Life after Graduation. Until next time! 


	9. The End of an Interesting Year part 2

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1 A/N Sorry it took so long for me to update but I have had a lot of delays. I will try to update more often but if I don't please don't give up on me. To make it up to you chapter 9 is super long. Enjoy the story.  
  
Chapter 9 The End of an Interesting Year (part two)  
  
The End of the Year Ball was only a week away. The last Hogsmade visit of the year was in session. The girls were shopping for their outfits for the ball and finding some for the men as they were shopping for `other' things. Of coarse that was just an excuse to not go shopping. The boys meanwhile entered the Three Broomsticks which they hadn't visited all year as they were a bit busy.  
  
Madam Rosemerta came up to their table. "Well look who finally decided to visit. Good to see you. Ok who is the kid? Last time I checked no one had a son." she caught sight of Sirius holding Isaiah.  
  
"It's not mine before you even ask. It's Ron and Hermione's or one of them any way." Sirius said catching Rosmerta's confused look.  
  
"The others are having an all girls shopping spree courtesy of our wallets." Ron said before she asked where the girls were.  
  
"Correction Ron they just walked in." Harry stated as he stood and made his way to Cho and Lily. He took the bags from Cho and kissed both of them.  
  
Madam Rosemerta looked at Harry confused when he took the baby from Cho and sat down. Hermione dumped Cassandra on Ron's lap before sitting down. Hope sat in her favorite seat next to Remus. "Hi Unky." she cheerily greeted. "Mama bought me a pretty dress for Saturday. Mama said I get to go. Will you dance with me Saturday?" she began talking very fast.  
  
"Of coarse Princess" Remus answered turning red and glaring at Sirius who was making a whipping motion.  
  
Madam Rosemerta went and got a bunch of butterbeers. "So do I get names or should I make some up?" she asked.  
  
Harry quickly ran through everyone for her and smiled at the shocked look that crossed her face when he introduced Cho and Lily.  
  
"My God Harry she looks remarkably like your mother. Why except for her chin and the fact that her hair is a little darker she looks exactly like your mother." she managed to point out. "I never thought I'd see the day you lot would be responsible much less be responsible for children." she shook her head at Sirius' hurt expression.  
  
"Do you know how hard it is to find you guys? You would think it would be easy as most of you are know all over the magical community but no you disappear when I want to find you." A voice called from the door.  
  
Everyone turned to find Tonks making her way towards them. She came up to Remus and kissed him. Harry's eyebrows went up and as he looked around realized he wasn't the only one. Sirius looked more shocked than anyone but his shock soon wore away and left him rolling on the floor laughing. The others burst into laughter when Remus put a silencing charm on him.  
  
"I have my secrets just like the rest of you." Remus stated simply pulling up a chair for Tonks.  
  
"I don't have any secrets Uncle Remus. Who is she? You will still play with me right?" Hope asked close to tears.  
  
"of coarse I will. Her name is Tonks and I'm sure she will play with you if you ask real nice." He quickly reassured her then began his introductions. "For those of you who don't know this is Tonks, Tonks you know almost everyone but as a refresher the idiot on the floor is Sirius, who I think is better without his voice. This little princess is Hope, Hermione, Ron, their twins Cassandra and Isaiah, Harry, his wife Cho, their daughter Lily, and of coarse Madam Rosemerta."  
  
Harry was the first to find his voice. "How long have you two been together? I mean why didn't I find out? I thought we were friends."  
  
"So are me and Padfoot but I sure wasn't going to tell him. We have been dating since about a month after you got married. About two months short of a year now."  
  
Sirius shot him a betrayed look. After a few more minutes of catching up Remus took mercy on Sirius and removed the charm. The moment he did Sirius jinxed Remus for payback. Remus' hair now matched Tonk's bright pink hair. Everyone laughed and Tonks whispered in his ear, "I kinda like it like that. Should we have everyone match?"  
  
Remus grinned and nodded. Soon the whole group, kids and all, had bright pink hair. The jinx was found by James and lasted a week. The Maurders had never bothered to look for the counterjinx as they never thought that it would be used on them. Even Hermione didn't know how to remove it. Now the lengthy curse had backfired. Those who were teachers were going to have to give exams with hot pink hair and pray that it would wear off by the time the ball started. Poor students trying to concentrate on exams when their teachers had distracting hair.  
  
"Tonks, Remus wanna help with my exams. The more people the better. You can work together if you'd like. After all you've already messed up their concentration." Harry suggested figuring he could use the help.  
  
"Ok. I'm here all week. I'm here because Remus is staying for the ball so I should be here with him. It will give me something to do all week." Tonks said thoughts turning to the upcoming Saturday.  
  
"Ok I owe you that at least as I'm responsible for the distraction." Remus Grinned. "Hey all your judges have pink hair! I really should stop bringing that up, but its funny-" Remus was stopped when Hermione put a silencing charm on him.  
  
"That's better. I don't like to be reminded I was caught off guard. Anyway we better be getting back or we'll be late for dinner. I'll take the jinx off when we get back to the castle." Hermione commented getting up and putting a spell on the bags making them small enough to fit in her pocket as she scooped up Isaiah.  
  
They made their way back to the castle making small talk and found that they were rather late to dinner. Peeves was holding a water balloon that he was planning on dropping on Professor Snape when he came out when they came through the entrance. He dropped the water balloon on himself in shock at their hair.  
  
"Hey peeves." Remus greeted in his newly restored voice.  
  
They entered the Great Hall which immediately went silent. Harry caught Professor McGonagall's stare. "I think we're in trouble" he wispered to the others. Cho giggled softly. No one else could hear her laugh though over the sudden noise of all the students talking at once.  
  
They took their seats as if nothing were unusual and Cho leaned over and whispered to an amused Dumbledore. "Sirius jinxed Remus we laughed Remus jinxed us."  
  
Dumbledore continued to look amused.  
  
**That Monday, Harry's Exam, 6th Year, All Houses**  
  
"Good morning class. Today is your final exam. When your name is called you will be tested by one of the judging pairs. All of the examiners conveniently have pink hair," Harry shot a glare at Remus, "Any questions before we begin?"  
  
Immediately hands went up.  
  
"Any questions not pertaining to the examiners hair color?" Harry said as he shot another glare at Remus.  
  
One hand remained up.  
  
"Sir, who are the other examiners? I mean we know you and your wife and Professor Black but who are the others?" a boy asked.  
  
"Oh yeah I should introduce the examiners. First my wife Cho, as you mentioned Professor Black, Mr. Ronald Weasley, this is Tonks, and one time Professor Remus Lupin." Another glare.  
  
"Are you the same Mr. Lupin that my parents speak so highly of, as does the current DADA(Defense Against The Dark Arts) teacher?" another boy asked.  
  
"Um. I don't know about the thought highly of part but yes I taught here once. Now you need to start your test so I shall report to my station."  
  
Remus was just starting to think the test was about to start when Harry called to him. " Why don't you tell them why we all have pink hair?"  
  
"Fine I jinxed everyone after Mr. Black jinxed me and they laughed. Well everyone but Tonks she just likes her hair like that. Now I will be seeing the chasers at my table so when you are called go to your positions table hence I'm grading chasers, Mr. Black is doing beaters and Mr. Potter is doing Keepers and seekers if you are interested." Remus made his way back to his spot with Tonks while Harry and Cho took their spot leaving Ron and Sirius to hurry up and do the same.  
  
The exams went smoothly the whole week and soon enough it was Saturday. Everyone in the little group was outside enjoying the little picnic they had decided to have before the ball. The girls had decided to get ready in the Potters little apartment like room so Harry's stuff was stashed at Sirius' place where the guys would get ready.  
  
"Come on girls. Let's get ready. See you later boys.Tonks said standing up and picking up Cassandra. They headed off taking Isaiah, Cassy, Lily, and Hope with them leaving Harry to stare after them confused.  
  
"It's only one! The ball doesn't start till seven! What do they need six hours for?" Harry asked Ron utterly perplexed.  
  
"Have you not figured out not to try and figure out girls yet? It took Hermione three hours to get ready by herself for the Yule Ball. Add the time to get the kids ready and you get six hours." Ron answered turning his attention to Sirius and Remus' fight.  
  
"You should have told me that you had a girlfriend! We are the last of the Maurders, we should stick together and tell each other everything."  
  
"I didn't tell you because I knew how you would respond. Look how you did when you found out. I wasn't ready to deal with your constant teasing. I still don't want to deal with it but you would have figured it out eventually." Remus gave am exasperated sigh.  
  
"So you two have been dating for a year? You planning on Proposing to her?" Sirius liked putting Remus in the spotlight.  
  
"A slight problem with that, Padfoot. If she were to marry me she would risk getting hurt during one of my transformations. I swore I wouldn't marry her until I find a cure for this curse I have. I might be able to in a few years though because they have this new treatment out that supposedly cures werewolves. Sadly it is extremely expensive and with me barley able to find jobs it will take a while to save up." Remus looked sad. He quickly changed the topic. "So Padfoot do you have a date for tonight?"  
  
Harry tossed Ron a note. It read: Remus' Birthday is soon I think we just figured out what to get him.  
  
"As a matter of fact yes I do have a date. We've been dating for a month now and um... she agreed to come tonight. Her name is Emerald." Sirius said avoiding Remus' eyes.  
  
Remus' eyes widened in shock. "Did you just say Emerald? As in James' ex- girlfriend Emerald. Didn't she hate you? You used to pick on her and then doubled her misery when she broke up with James. What could ever make her like you enough to no curse you on sight much less date you?"  
  
"That's the one. We met a week ago in Hogsmade. She was shocked I was allowed within ten miles of Hogwarts and almost fainted when I told her they let me teach here. I apologized for being such a jerk when we were in school and she forgave me. Been dating ever since."  
  
"Back up. You apologized for something? When did Hell freeze over?"  
  
"My Dad wrote something about that in the journal he gave me. Let me see,... ah here it is 'I broke up with Emerald today after i found her kissing Sirius in the common room. She swears it was nothing but I'm not sure I believe it. She looked happy and Sirius had a look that was a mix of confusion, panic, and pleasure.' You were making out with your best friend's girlfriend?" Harry looked at Sirius in shock.  
  
Sirius looked as if he was trying to remember. "oh yeah. Actually that was this blokes fault." He pointed at Remus who smiled sheepishly, "We were playing truth or dare and he dared her to kiss me. I think he was trying to get James and her to break up cause he knew James had a crush on your mum. You shouldn't complain cause no matter how miserable James was he wouldn't break up with her for fear of being called a heartless jerk. He would've never hooked up with your mum if we hadn't interfered." Sirius finished as if that justified everything.  
  
"Guys i hate to interrupt but if we want to pick up the girls on time we better go get ready." Ron spoke up from his spot as he stood and began to head inside.  
  
The guys all got dressed in their best tuxedos with the exception of Sirius who chose to wear his dress robes.  
  
When they were ready they went to Harry and Cho's almost apartment rooms where the girls were and knocked on the door. The door magically opened reviling three beautiful women. The men were shocked into silence.  
  
Sirius, who would be meeting his date downstairs, caught sight of the children. Hope was dressed in a beautiful pink dress that was trimmed in red and made her look like the princess that Remus always said she was. She wore the tiara on he red hair, which was pulled up neatly leaving curls hanging down, as if to point out the fact that she was a princess.  
  
Isaiah was wearing a little tux to match Ron and Cassandra wore a little frilly dress. Lilly wore a lacy white dress and a matching bow in the little hair she had.  
  
Tonks, who had changed her hair to straight long dark red as apposed to her normal spiky pink hair, had her hair styled so it looked nice but not overdone. She wore a red dress that went up and tied behind her neck. Her hair was up enough to show that it was backless and opened as far as the small of her back.  
  
Hermione wore a black dress that (to Ron's delight) was quite tight. It was spaghetti strapped and had a slit on the right side that went to mid thigh. She had straightened her hair and put it in the elegant knot she had wore to the Yule Ball.  
  
Cho wore the changing color formal that Remus had bought her. It was strapless and tight fitting with a complicated pattern on the top half. The bottom portion had no design but had a slit to mid thigh on both sides. She had chosen to make it dark blue matching the stone in her wedding ring. Her hair was up in a complex knot except for two strands of curls that hung on either side of her face.  
  
All the girls had matching jewelry and makeup to complete the look and when the guys finally found their voices the girls were taking their arms.  
  
They met Sirius' date who wore purple dress robes and had her brown hair loose about her shoulders. No one noticed, except for Sirius, as they were staring at their "dates".  
  
"Guys!" Sirius half shouted getting their attention. "This is Emerald. Emerald this is Remus, you know him of coarse, Tonks, his girlfriend, Ron, James' son's best friend, Hermione, Ron's wife and another of Harry's friends, their kids Hope, Isaiah, and Cassandra, Har-"Sirius was cut off when Emerald gasped.  
  
"James! But you died didn't you? Was that just a rumor?" She began to question Harry suspiciously.  
  
Harry shook his head. "No it wasn't a rumor. I'm Harry, James' son. This is my wife Cho and our daughter Lily." he finished Sirius' introductions.  
  
"We really should be getting inside the Ball is about to start." Cho said gesturing to the Great Hall.  
  
They went in and searched for a table that would fit all of them. They could not find one and did not want to separate. Dumbledore noticed their problem and came over. "If you'd like the children can come sit with me. I would be delighted as would my date." He winked as Harry did a double take.  
  
At the Table Dumbledore gestured to sat Professor McGonagall, Mad-Eye Moody (who was looking shocked to see Tonks there and in a dress), Kingsley (sitting rather close to Professor McGonagall, and to Harry's surprise Ms. Figg. She smiled and waved at him.  
  
"Fine by me what do you guys think?" Harry asked the rest of the group. They all nodded in agreement even Tonks who added quietly "Moody and Kingsley are doomed. Poor unsuspecting Blokes." Dumbledore headed back to his table with Cassandra and Isaiah in his arms and Harry with Lily trailing close behind and Hope holding Harry's hand.  
  
"Hello everyone. Hello Ms. Figg it has been a while hasn't it?" He greeted the table.  
  
"Apparently. Why wasn't I invited to your wedding young man?" she asked as she hugged him warmly careful not to hurt Lily.  
  
"Sorry about that. I was not really concerned with who attended just that I got married. You three don't know the kids so I'll give a brief introduction. The oldest here is Hope, Ron and Hermione's daughter, Isaiah and Cassandra, (he gestured toward the two now in floating hi-chairs) are their twins, and this Little one," he said as he handed his daughter to Dumbledore, "is Lily my daughter who seems to think Dumbledore's beard is a toy." this brought laughs from Mad-eye, who the kids were staying far from, and Kingsley and a glare from Ms. Figg.  
  
"Not only do you forget to invite me to your wedding but you don't even tell me you have a daughter. I'm hurt all those years I took care of you and you don't even tell me important things like this." Ms. Figg began to get ticked at Harry.  
  
"I'm so sorry. A lot of people don't know. This year has just been so hectic. Cho was kidnapped during her pregnancy, Lily has nightmares about me getting hurt not to mention she almost died during birth. I've had a lot on my mind and informing people about me having a daughter was not exactly top of my list. I better rejoin my wife before she gets mad. It was really great seeing you again." Harry hurried off and rejoined the others who were curious about who exactly she was.  
  
"She used to watch me when the Dursleys were out. I didn't find out she was a squib until the summer after fourth year." he said quickly noticing Emerald kept looking at him.  
  
"You look exactly like James with the exception of your eyes and scar of course. Your hair even stays messed up like his." she told him as she continued staring.  
  
"Yeah I get that a lot. Let's eat." Harry said feeling a bit uncomfortable.  
  
They ate having a light hearted conversation about everyday things. Soon the tables were moved aside and the music began to play. Harry, still uncomfortable from the stares, stood and asked Cho to dance. She took his hand and they made their way to the dance floor.  
  
"She was making you uncomfortable wasn't she?" Cho asked as they began to sway to the music.  
  
"Yeah. Oh, we found a gift for Remus' birthday." He whispered in her ear quickly explaining what they had in mind.  
  
"Cho agreed that it would be a great gift and looked over at Remus and Tonks who were dancing a few feet away. They looked so happy together.  
  
Remus on the other hand was thinking how lucky he was just to have Tonks as a girlfriend and wishing he could have her as more. Tonks looked at him wondering why he was so sad. It wasn't visible to everyone else but she could see it.  
  
Everyone's thoughts and conversations were interrupted by a very loud crash. The guests looked around to see what had caused it. Ron and Hermione turned red when they saw the problem.  
  
The twins had gotten a hold of a wand and had stuck Sirius to the wall toppling tables the whole way. Sirius looked shocked and then embarrised when everyone started laughing.  
  
It made a wonderful end to the school year.  
  
A/N A bit long but it was hopefully worth the wait. Please Review I need the encouragement. The next chapter won't take so long to post so keep reviewing. 


	10. The Gift

A/N: See it didn't take me two months like last time! I'm so proud of that. (sob emotionally) Anyway... I hope you liked Chapter Nine. This chapter is kinda short but the next two make up for that. This is just one of those I need to fill in the time gap and go over things I may have forgotten so enjoy and I will work on Chapter Eleven.  
  
Disclaimer: I think I can pay for the characters now. Let me see. Oh wait I don't even have enough pocket lent. Sigh I guess if you've seen it, it still is not mine.  
  
Chapter 10 The Gift  
  
**** Remus's Birthday Bash **** "Happy Birthday Moony! I made you this." Hope said as she handed Remus a card and something he wasn't exactly sure what it was. "It's a hat. All people should have a birthday hat!" she explained when he didn't put his hat on.  
  
"Thank you Princess." He put on the "hat" and opened the card. There was a picture of a cake (or what he assumed was a cake) with candles and written in crayon beneath it was "Api Birday Unky Mony" then a little heart followed by Hope's name written in crayon and then again in ink in Hermionie's writing. Hope was extremly smart like her mother. Hermione was already teaching her things like how to write and sound out words.  
  
Sirius was taking pictures of Remus in his "birthday hat" probably planning on using them for blackmail later.  
  
"Look Sirius she spells better than you." Remus ribbed his friend.  
  
"Don't start you two please. I don't feel like listening to it today." Cho informed the two.  
  
"Agreed. Anyway Remus Ron, Hermione, Cho, and I decided to get you something extremely special this year. Here." Harry handed Remus an envelope.  
  
Remus opened the envelope to find a card. He read the card and found written on the inside in beautiful handwriting, (probably Cho's, he thought) a quick note. 'We thought that you needed a bit of happiness in your life so we decided to get you something special this year. Enclosed is a pay stub for the new werewolf cure. They are expecting you at St. Muguno's and will treat you immediately. Here is hoping its real. Love, Cho, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the kids.'  
  
Remus stared blankly at the card then at the pay stub. He looked up at the group the shock evident in his eyes. Finally it dawned on him what this meant and he jumped up and hugged everyone even Sirius who was still trying to get pictures.  
  
"You don't know how much this means to me. Thank you. Thank you all. " Remus was spinning hope and Tonks in circles he was so happy which of coarse made Tonks laugh.  
  
"Do you mind putting me down Remus? I'm not your niece." Tonks said in between laughs.  
  
"No you're not my niece but if this whole cure thing works I would like you to be my wife. Tonks will you marry me and be my wife for the rest of my hopefully werewolf free life?"  
  
"Am I a metamorph? Yes Remus I will marry you!" Tonks exclaimed then laughed at the sight of the rest of the onlookers clapping on the couch while eating popcorn Sirius had conjured.  
  
"Told ya Ron. Pay up!" Harry said putting his hand out to Ron and receiving 20 Galleons. Cho and Hermione both smacked their husbands at this.  
  
"What did we tell you two about betting? What was the bet this time?" Cho asked Harry becoming curious.  
  
"That Remus would propose as soon as he found out about the chance of being cured. Ron figured he'd wait a little longer. Don't hurt me its going into Lily's school fund thing." Harry shrunk back from Cho when he finished the whole thing to emphasize his point about not hurting him.  
  
The next full moon  
  
"I never realized how beautiful the full moon was. I was too busy fearing it to care. It really is a nice night to be out looking at the stars." Remus said to the others as they finished their late night picnic celebration.  
  
"Yes it is. Hey Ron, where is Sirius?" Hermione asked looking around curiously.  
  
"I don't know. Be wary Remus, he is trouble. Look what he did to Cho and Harry's first anniversary. That was just cruel." Ron shook his head at the memory.  
  
"Don't remind me I'm still plotting his death for it." Cho said from where she and Harry sat with her head on his lap. Molly Weasley had insisted on .watching the kids so the adults and Sirius could get a night out by themselves.  
  
On their first anniversary Sirius had volunteered to help Remus and Tonks babysit so that they would actually keep their minds on babysitting instead of their wedding. This was a bad idea. Correction a very bad idea. Sirius had transfigured some toothpicks into random animals and painted the whole house in Magic resistant paint as well as all their clothes. It took both Harry and Remus to keep Cho from killing him.  
  
Cho had still not forgiven the man. Now Sirius was unaccounted for so Harry and Remus dutifully stood up to look for him. They found him and jinxed him to be their entertainment for the night. Cho made sure to take lots of blackmail pictures and insisted on sending them to Dumbledore and Sirius' girlfriend. The summer was going great.  
  
A/N see I updated. I would have done so sooner but fanfiction and aol didn't want to cooperate. I hope you enjoyed and hopefully I will update soon. I know it was short but the next one finally explains Lilies nightmares and has a few other entertaining scenes. Plus there will be a few changes at Hogwarts so I shall work on that now. Please review the more reviews the faster the update. 


	11. Night Visions

A/N: Back again. Whoo-hoo lots of reviews!!! Thank you so much. I'm so happy. (Wipes tear from eye) KittyMcGonagall this one is so for you. Not only did you review my story but you reviewed it Chapter by Chapter. Thank you so much I really appreciate it. For everyone else that reviewed thank you as well the names just didn't stick in my head. Only reason Kitty's is still in my head is I read ten reviews from her but anyway if you took time to review I reward you with a quick update. Heh heh heh. Anyway the whole rewritten disclaimer was a tenth chapter extra so onto the story.  
  
Disclaimer: See chapter 1 or 10  
  
Chapter 11: Night Visions  
  
"Cho, do you mind if I take Lily to Diagon Alley with me? The team agreed to meet me there today and I want to show off my beautiful little girl. I'd like to show you off too but you said you have plans today. So do you think I could take her for the day?" Harry asked as he got dressed for his day of shopping.  
  
It was two weeks till the school started again and they were staying in the house his parents had left him (that was the surprise mentioned in the card.) that was just outside of London in a smaller magical town. It wasn't large but it sufficed for the two months out of the year they actually lived there.  
  
"Sure. I already packed her diaper bag it has an extra bottle in it and its not like you are clueless on how to take care of her. Well you better not be. Maybe this Christmas the team can come to the annual Christmas Party and they can meet me there." Cho replied as she finished tying her shoe.  
  
They ate a quick breakfast and headed off to their destinations. Cho apperated to the ministry where she would be helping out leaving Harry to decide how he was to get to Diagon Alley. Harry headed out to the street as the Knight Bus was the safest way to get there with the baby. (Not that the Knight Bus is safe)  
  
Harry slung his backpack with all of Lily's stuff onto his back and held out his wand arm. Almost immediately the bus stopped and he boarded taking the seat closest to the door and paying old Ernie.  
  
Stan noticed him almost the moment he got on. Lily was giggling at Ernie when Stan came to say hi. Harry stashed his stuff behind his chair and held Lily tightly to him.  
  
"Aven't seen you in a while arry. 'Ow ya been?" Stan asked as the bus started to move again. Then Stan caught sight of Lily who was squealing in delight from the ride. "and oo's the little one?"  
  
"I've been good. This little one is my daughter Lily. How about you? Ever going to change jobs? Not that there is anything wrong with this one but you've been here for quite a while haven't you?" Harry answered the man as he shifted Lily on his lap to hold her tighter so she wouldn't go flying when the bus stopped.  
  
"Nah. You get to meet a lot of people on this job. How old is she?" He nodded to Lily.  
  
"Three and a half months. Her mother had things to do today so I volunteered to bring her with me." Harry answered as the bus stopped and almost threw him to the floor.  
  
"Leaky Cauldron." Ernie called to the bus.  
  
"This is my stop. It was good to see you guys again." Harry slung the vag on his shoulder again and stepped off with Lily glued to his hip.  
  
When Harry entered the tavern Tom came over to greet him. " Mr. Potter. How can I help you today?" the old man asked as he glanced at the baby before giving Harry a questioning look.  
  
"Just here to do some shopping, Tom. This is my daughter by the way. Her name is Lily." Harry answered the unspoken question.  
  
Tom smiled at Lily who smiled and cooed at the old man. Harry made his way to the back and glanced at his watch as he stepped into Diagon Alley.  
  
"Well Lily we're early. Want to go visit Uncle Ron and Hope while we wait?" Harry asked the little girl as he started off towards Ron's Quidditch Shop.  
  
Lily gurgled at him.  
  
They entered the shop and the cashier looked up.  
  
"Ron here?" Harry asked the cashier.  
  
"You're--You're-" the young woman stuttered.  
  
"Yes, I'm the Harry Potter. Now is Ron here today?"  
  
"No sir. Mr. Weasley said he would be in at noon. Do you want me to call him and tell him you're here?" she replied quickly trying to act as though she wasn't really concerned with who he was.  
  
"What is your name? I'm not going to get you in trouble it's just that you must be new here cause I've met most of Ron's staff."  
  
"Sari, and sorry about making a big deal about who you are, it's just.I know you're around a lot but this is my first day on the job so seeing you is sort of a new experience. Did you want me to call Mr. Weasley sir?"  
  
"No. You can call me Harry if you want. How much does this stuff with my name on it make?"  
  
"It used to make something around 1,000 to 2,000 galleons a month but since you retired its almost tripled. Why did you retire if you don't mind my asking that is?"  
  
"To start a family. This here is my daughter. Say how long have you been a fan of mine. Be honest I'm curious."  
  
"A few years now. I graduated from Hogwarts the year before you came. I had friends that were only in first year when I graduated, they told me of your adventures in school. When they spread those rumors about you I didn't believe them cause my friends believed you so you had to be telling the truth. That's when I first became your fan. Then you graduated and went on to become a famous Quidditch player aand I was even more of a fan. And now you have a family that is so great." She answered as she glanced at the baby who was playing with a snitch. "She is lucky to have a father like you. Looks like she has your Quidditch ability."  
  
"Yeah her mom was the seeker for Ravenclaw, she was doomed to get the ability." Harry said as he grabbed the snitch out of the air and handed it and another one to Sari with some money. When she gave him his change he took out his unlimited ink quill (it never ran out of ink he needed one for the crowds and its probably really annoying to carry around an ink bottle) and wrote on one of the snitches before handing it back to Sari and heading out the door. Lily giggled as she played with the second snitch that Harry had put a charm on so it wouldn't go too far out of her reach.  
  
As he left Sari looked at the one he handed her. It read: Sari, I wish you luck and happiness throughout your future. Thank you for believing in me when most turned against me and not being a fair-weather fan. Harry Potter  
  
Harry made his way toward one of the shops intent on finding Cho a birthday gift. Her birthday was in September and he wanted to get her something special. Before he reached the shop someone called to him. He turned to see who it was and found the whole London Team (new seeker included) seated at one of the cafés.  
  
"Hey guys. And Girls." Harry added when the girls glared at him. This sent the guys laughing.  
  
"Man you turned coward. Afraid of disrespecting girls or forgetting them." One of the guys managed through his laughs.  
  
"I've seen a woman's wrath and my wife ticked off will scare any sane man half to death." Harry said as he joined the group at the table. When he sat downone of the guys insisted on insulting him.  
  
"So Harry, this your new girlfriend? She's a bit young don't you think?" he teased gesturing at Lily.  
  
"She is my daughter and she is probably smarter than you Matt. We all know you have a negative IQ from so many bludgers to the head." He sat Lily on the table and pulled out his wallet. He produced a picture of Cho. "For those of you who missed my wedding, this is my wife."  
  
"he has you on the negative IQ point Matt. I don't agree that the bludgers caused it though." One of the girls said then changed the subject. "So does your daughter, that you neglected to tell us you had, have a name or do we just call her girl."  
  
"Lily. She looks remarkably like my mom by the way. So you're the new seeker? You're quiet. How do you survive around this bunch being this quiet." Harry said spotting the newcomer.  
  
"Oh oops. Where are my manners? Harry this is Jillian. She's replaced you. Poor girl. No one can be expected to live up to your reputation. Try as hard as she does." The team captain, Jake, started shaking his head. "Looks like Lily got your skills." He said when he caught sight of her playing with the snitch.  
  
"Nice to meet you. You bought your infant a snitch?" Jillian said as she shook Harry's hand.  
  
"Only because she keeps stealing mine. I decided I'd buy her one so she would leave mine alone. If she doesn't want to play Quidditch when she is older it's fine by me. If she does all the better." He picked Lily up off his lap and turned her towards him. "You'll make Daddy proud with whatever you choose." He told the little girl who giggled in delight as she caught the snitch.  
  
After about twenty more minutes of catching up Matt glanced at his watch. "Hey Jake. We're going to be late for practice. Wanna come Harry? You could try Jill here."  
  
"No thanks maybe another time. I have stuff to do." He glanced at his own watch. "Is that the time?! I told Cho I'd be home by 1:00. I only have 45 minutes. Nice talking to you guys but I have shopping to get done." He hurried off.  
  
He bought Cho a necklace that was enchanted to never break. The pendant on it was a flower made of rubies surrounding a sapphire center and emerald leaves all set in white gold on the enchanted gold chain.  
  
Harry was headed back to Ron's shop when a hand reached out and grabbed him. He was dragged into Knockturn alley. When the hand finally realized him he realized that Lily was no longer in his arms but had been thrown to the floor and was crying from the rain that had started pelting her face. The sky in Knockturn Alley was not visible as it was covered by large spooky arches do to the sensitivity of some items sold in the alley. Harry saw a familiar pale faced man making his way toward Lily and ran to stop Malfoy from getting near Lily. Harry threw a curse at Malfoy hoping to discourage him. Lily began to cry louder as it seemed to get colder in the alley. The familiar screaming in Harry's head started distracting him. While he was distracted Malfoy uttered one of the unforgivables sending Harry to the floor in pain. He fell into unconsciousness as Malfoy came closer to Lily. Harry regained consciousness as Malfoy reached Lily and threw a curse at the young death eater. "Stay away from my daughter. I won't let you hurt her." Harry shouted as he stood. Malfoy raised his wand and sent Harry to the floor in pain again. Harry had yet to give Malfoy the pleasure of hearing him scream and soon passed out.  
  
A/N: I should really stop here but I'm not that cruel so because I got so many reviews for the last chapter I'll be nice and keep going.  
  
Harry woke to a wet cloth being pressed to his forehead. He opened his eyes and groaned. A blurry figure stood over him pressing the cloth to his head which was thinking at an incredibly slow pace. As the memories and his vision started to come back Harry sat up soon regretting it when he saw Cho's scowl.  
  
He obediently laid back down asking the dreaded question. "What happened to Lily? Is she all right? Is she hurt?"  
  
"Calm down Harry. She is fine. Right after you knocked out the Dementors got there. Ron had called in the Ministry when his cashier saw you get dragged into Knockturn Alley. Luckily Tonks was on duty so she didn't hesitate to comfort Lily and call me." She was cut off by Ron burtsting in the room.  
  
"Harry you're awake! Good cause your daughter has been wanting to see you for a while now and its getting a bit hard to distract her." Ron handed Lily to Harry. "Luckily the evil git didn't hurt her or Azkaban wouldn't be good enough for the git. This is one step to far and he was sentenced to life in Azkaban. Just for future notice you ever get yourself knocked out for more than three days again and I'm not watching the kid." Ron tried to joke but the worry was etched in his face.  
  
"How long was I out?" Harry seemed stunned that he had been out for more than a day.  
  
"Six days. You are pushing it for the whole start of term thing. School starts in a week and you are expected to be there in three. Hagrid has moved closer to Madame Maxime and Sirius was moved to be your assistant. Hermione will be teaching a class for future Aurors and Remus will take over the Care of Magical Creatures leaving Tonks to take the DADA job. A lot of changes but that will extend the group a bit. Oh and as my shop runs itself I will be taking a new elective that I'm sure only Hermione would be interested in which is a Hogwarts history class. Did you know that we are in the Revised Hogwarts, A History?" Ron started all exdited that most of the group would be at the school.  
  
"Ron, shut up and leave me alone. I want to talk to my wife and spend time with my daughter before the school year actually starts." Harry told Ron as he stopped to take a breath.  
  
"Oh well two last things. They will be taking the teachers by train to the school for old times sake and Fred and George are opening a shop at the school. Well I'll leave you two alone now." Ron practically ran from the room.  
  
"Did he just confirm my worst nightmare?" Harry asked Cho stunned at the revalation of Fred and George going back to Hogwarts. The school was doomed. Two Maraduers and the twins. Indeed, the school was doomed.  
  
A/N: Did ya like it? I changed it from what I wrote in my notebook but what can you do? This is better anyway so. please review. I finally solved the problem of Lily's nightmare but that is just the beginning of her visions. I like playing with dangerous situations. For example the whole doomed school thing. Heh heh heh. It's just too fun. Till next time. 


	12. Trouble is Brewing

A/N: I'm so sorry I haven't updated in a long time. I've been sick and then with school and all I haven't typed anything. Then I had this huge case of writers block (which I still have a bit of). If this chapter is horrible or boring I'm sorry but my mind doesn't want to work very well so deal with it I'll try to make the next chapter better so on with the story. Oh and as for the answer to how old Lily is. She was born in may and it is now September thus she is 3 and a half months old ron and hermione's twins will be a year old in October or November. (most likely the latter.)  
  
Disclaimer: I'm too lazy to type it all the time so check chapter 1 or 10. It's less work for me.  
  
Chapter 12: Trouble is Brewing (and for once it isn't Sirius' fault)  
  
The train ride to the school was ten times as bad as when the teachers had been kids. Professor Snape (after much argument) boarded the train to begin what he would consider the worst journey since he had been in school.  
  
Harry and Cho were the first to the train and quickly claimed the last compartment. Lily gurgled as Harry sat her on the floor while they awaited the arrival of the others. Professor McGonagall sat with Snape in the first compartment as far away from the rather loud bunch of teachers and children.  
  
The train was set to leave at 11 as always and at exactly 11 the last of the group boarded. Hermione was happy just to have something to do once more (besides look after the kids). Ron was happily reliving the memories of the train rides of their early years, Remus and Tonks were making plans for their wedding, and Sirius well he was planning what pranks to do on Snape.  
  
"Hey Sirius. I wonder if our names are still written on the wall. Do you remember where we wrote them?" Remus stated out of the blue.  
  
"Oh yeah I had forgot about that. I believe we wrote it above the luggage racks. Lets see if its still there." Sirius stood on one of the seats and looked at the corner wall. "Hey Moony its still there. 'Below are the names of the worlds greatest pranksters known to Hogwarts and the number of detentions received for said pranks. James 'Prongs' Potter 4,872 Sirius 'Padfoot' Black 4,870 Remus 'Moony' Lupin 3,986' Remus became a prefect and thus had to avoid as much trouble towards the end." Sirius looked at Remus. "James last two detentions were for beating Malfoy into a pancake for calling Lily Mudblood thus he beat me."  
  
"I remember that. Malfoy spent the last two days of term in the hospital wing. I believe James broke two of his ribs and dislocated his jaw. It took the both of us to keep him from killing Malfoy. I can't believe that 20 something years later our names are still engraved on the train." Remus smiled at the thought.  
  
"Daddy. I'm hungry. Can I get something to eat?" Hope spoke up from where she sat coloring.  
  
"Sure thing hun. Let me go get you something. While I'm up what does everyone else want?" Ron asked as he stood to go look for the food cart.  
  
"Ron lets just buy the whole cart cause there are a lot of us and we all know how much Sirius can eat." Harry said from his spot next to Cho who was reading the journal from Harry's parents.  
  
"Good idea. I'll be back." Ron left to find the cart and the others began telling stories of their adventures on the train.  
  
"Hey Mione, you remember our first train ride? You were already performing magic and Ron tried to turn Peter yellow." Harry smiled thinking what would have happened if Peter had turned yellow.  
  
"Remember second year when Fred and George found out that Percy had a girlfriend." Hermione smiled at the memory of their faces that day.  
  
"Or after fourth year when Malfoy and his cronies came in and they looked like a mangled mess when we were through with them. Then George literally walking on Malfoy's face. I think that actually helped his looks." Harry smiled.  
  
"Hey Sirius remember our first train ride?" Remus shot out.  
  
"Ah yes we had no experience in the field of pranking. Well you didn't me and James had lived next door to each other for so long we were used to the whole pranking thing. Oh yeah Harry doesn't know that story. See for a while James lived on the same street well actually it was a few streets down but we were sort of good friends well until my parents found out. My parents hated James and forbid me to see him. Then we came to Hogwarts and nothing could separate us. Every Christmas I'd go to James house so I wouldn't have to stay with my family. When my parents first found out that I was friends with Remus they almost killed me. I was forbidden to hang out with Remus and James and even Lily. We all know how well I followed that rule. I still have the scars to prove how many beatings I took to stay friends with these too." Sirius looked depressed for a moment. "Oh well. Our first train ride we let dung bombs off in all the compartments and bewitched some of the food on the cart."  
  
"Yeah some of the Slytherins never got over that. Not that they liked us anyway." Remus sighed at the memory. "Good old James. That traitorous rat never spent the train rides with us. He always disappeared half way through the train ride. We should have known he wasn't loyal to us. Always took the cowardly way out." Remus spat at the bitter memory.  
  
"The train rides to and from Hogwarts weren't that eventful for me and my friends. But that is probably because we followed the rules unlike the rest of you." Tonks spoke up.  
  
"Hey I always followed rules. The rest of you might not have but I did. My friends and I always had a great time on the train without breaking rules." Cho defended herself.  
  
Everyone began laughing. "Breaking the rules at Hogwarts always was a great adventure." Harry said smiling. "Hence the trouble we always ended up in. Took Hermione a while to get warmed up to it but it was for the benefit. And dear you did break rules. Everyone here knows that. You were part of an illegal society and you read the article in The Quibbler thus you broke rules as well."  
  
"The ones that hag made up do not count. No one followed those rules. Even the teachers broke those rules." Cho defended trying to keep her good reputation.  
  
Ron entered at that moment with the cart of food. Everyone ate snacks and when Sirius turned into a canary everyone promptly put the food down. They had forgot one detail. The twins were on the train. Just as Sirius turned back human the door opened to reveal none other than.  
  
"So Gred looks like it worked."  
  
"Looks that way to me too Feroge. How is everyone this lovely afternoon?"  
  
Hermione glanced at the twins suspiciously and glared at Sirius who was trying to teach the twins magic while the other twins distracted her.  
  
Lily chose this moment to attract attention to her by letting her toy snitch smack into Ron's face. Soon the tension broke and they began playing exploding snap and throwing random jinxes at each other.  
  
"Weasley, Jonathan!" Professor McGonagall called as Bill and Pearl's adopted son walked up to the stool and the hat was placed on the rather terrified looking boy. Bill and Pearl adopted the boy when they learned that his parents were killed during the war with Voldemort. The boy had bright red hair, (strangely enough) and had lived in a muggle orphanage for the last few years. Bill and Pearl adopted him when he was seven and now four years later the boy was entering Hogwarts.  
  
The hat seemed to think for quite a while before finally deciding on Gryffindor. As he was the last first year everyone turned to Dumbledore to see what he would say. The later years looked expectantly at their plates.  
  
"Only two words this year. Dig in." Immediately food appeared on the plates and everyone began catching up on what happened over summer vacation.  
  
At the head table Harry and Cho were having a conversation about what house Lily would be in when she got to school. "I'm just saying she's going to be in Gryffindor because she seems to be taking after my mother in so many ways." Harry argued as he piled food onto his plate.  
  
"Yeah yeah yeah. I don't care if she ends up in Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw so long as she doesn't end up in Slytherin. I couldn't bear the thought of her turning into the scum that Malfoy turned into. If she does end up in Gryffindor she will not be as reckless as you hopefully. Anyway why are we talking about this now, she's not even one. Hey Remus when are you guys planning on getting married?" Cho turned the attention to Tonks and Remus.  
  
"Um.I dunno when do you want to get marry sweetie?" Remus asked turning to Tonks.  
  
This remark made Sirius spit pumpkin juice out his nose. "Sweetie? That's a new one. You are so whipped Moony." he said as he wiped his face.  
  
Just then Lily took the spoon of baby food from Cho and sent it flying at Sirius.  
  
Remus began laughing but stopped abruptly when one of the twins hit him with a glob of their own food. Soon enough it was an all out food fight with Harry getting hit from both sides. Lily found it fun to throw food at her father who stood in front of her to block the majority of the food from hitting her.  
  
The laughter from the group was so loud that no one noticed Fred and George slip in the room. (Well Dumbledore noticed but we all know he know almost everything) Fred and George noticed the food fight and decided to enchant some food to attack everyone at the head table and dance around in front of Dumbledore singing the Hogwarts song.  
  
This got everyone's attention. Harry and company soon shrunk as far as they could into their seats when they caught the murderous look McGonagall gave them. They all knew not to push their luck with the Deputy Headmistress.  
  
Meanwhile the whole student body stared at the Head table in amazement at what they had just seen. Well all but John. He was used to it by now.  
  
"Hey John, aren't you going to watch the food fight?" one of John's fellow Gryffindor asked as they noticed he was completely ignoring the scene.  
  
"Nope. I see this a lot. You should see the Christmas parties every year. Professor Black will start something with someone and then everyone else will join in. That or Professor Potter will start something with Uncle Ron and it will go from there. Either way at least one food fight will start." John replied as he continued eating.  
  
"Students I have a special announcement but first some reminders." Dumbledore said as Lily latched onto his beard looking extremely happy at having her toy back. "Now let me introduce you to Misters Fred and George Weasley owners of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. They will be opening up shop here where students can buy.supplies." At this Filch was so shocked that he passed out.  
  
The students started chattering all at once and kept looking at Dumbledore wondering if the old man had lost his mind. Snape on the other hand looked more miserable than even Filch. Not only did he have to deal with his mortal enemy's son and family and friends but now the twins would be joining the two remaining Marauders. Snape soon began rhythmically beating his head on the table to which Professor Flitwick addressed Snape saying, "Severus if you are going to do that please do not shake the table. I would think the whole school would be happy to see the two students who had the guts to stand up to that Umbridge woman again. Oh well. You might need to wash your hair to get the pudding out of it." He finished noticing the pudding that was stuck to the man's greasy hair.  
  
Sirius heard this remark and started laughing. "Snape wash his hair? Does he even know how to?" he whispered to Tonks.  
  
As the students headed off to their dorms to get sleep after such an interesting start to another year at Hogwarts, Flitwick turned to Harry who was magically cleaning Lily and listening to Professor McGonagall lecture Sirius about starting food fights.  
  
"So, Harry, you got stuck with Sirius as your co-teacher. Are you sure your class can survive the year?" Flitwick asked as he transfigured a piece of parchment into a teddy bear and charmed the bear to sing a lullaby for Lily. He handed her the teddy and she hugged it to her chest as she turned to snuggle into Harry's body.  
  
"Sure. Maybe not in one piece but they will survive. I don't know if Remus will survive with a prank shop in the school for Sirius to buy 'supplies' from. So long as he doesn't hurt Lily or tick off Cho he will survive. Cho is still mad at him for the whole anniversary thing. The man is doomed if he tries something else on her so soon." Harry grinned at the thought.  
  
"Yes well I have an early class tomorrow so I will be going. Have a good night Harry." Flitwick then left.  
  
The school year was going to be quite eventful.  
  
The next morning the owl post arrived barring a letter for Cho and another for Harry. Harry looked at the letter confused.  
  
"Who's it from?" Ron asked noticing Harry's confused look.  
  
"I'm not sure. As almost everyone who writes to me is at this table and I don't recognize the writing. Sort of makes me suspicious. Well let's see who its from." Harry opened the letter.  
  
Dear Harry,  
  
Hello. I am a fan of yours and I was wondering if I could meet you. I know you are busy with your teaching career and all but I have this fan club going and I would like you to come and maybe tell us of some of your adventures. I know that this is probably not a new request but I would really appreciate it if you were to come.  
  
This fan club I host is made up of mostly children and teenagers. All of the members are not yet of age to attend Hogwarts and would like to meet their hero before they go. I only ask this because these children will probably never get a chance to go to Hogwarts because they live in the states. If you would do this I would gladly pay you and I will make sure you have appropriate accommodations.  
  
Think of it as a chance to see the sights of the great United States of America. I hope to hear from you soon.  
  
Thank you, Ms. Tina Laren Head of the Harry Potter Fan Club in Washington D.C.  
  
Harry's eyebrow rose at the end of the letter. "This is a new one. Hey Ron read this." Harry handed the letter to Ron.  
  
Ron read it quickly and started laughing gaining Hermione's attention who was at the time trying to get the twins to eat something. Soon the letter was passed throughout the group and all but Cho had read it. She had just finished reading her own letter when the letter came back to her and Harry. She glanced over the letter and handed it back to Harry.  
  
"So are you going to go?" She asked not really caring about Ron's hysterical laughter.  
  
"Not likely. First off I can't just up and leave Hogwarts in the middle of a term. Second it's a fan club and you know how I feel about those. Finally I'm not leaving you and Lily here while I go tour the world." Harry stated returning his attention to breakfast.  
  
"You wouldn't be leaving us here and we can go on one of the breaks. We can go during Christmas break and as for you feelings on fan clubs it won't be that bad. Besides I've always wanted to see the states."  
  
Harry noticed that their argument was getting attention from more than just their friends. "Hon can we talk about this later?" Harry figured it was something best fought out in private.  
  
"Fine with me."  
  
A/N so the chapter sucked. Its leading up to something don't worry. I shall try to update more often but my brother is in town this month and with the holidays I'm not sure if I'll have time to update. I hope this doesn't make you want to quit reading. Sorry it took so long to update. Next time it takes so long send me a howler to thethirdtroll@aol.com. Thanks. 


	13. Decisions, Decisions

Disclaimer: see chapies 1 or 10  
  
A/N: Sorry bout the long wait but I've had a bit of writers block and a really busy time so now that I have some spare time. I have written this although I still have writers block. I am sorry if it is horrible but I have to do something to help beat the dam. Its not working I tell you. Anyway onto the story. Oh and thanks a bunch to my new editor. Right now the name is not on my mind but I will get it by the end of the chapter. (I thought I was on chapter 14. guess not.)  
  
Chapter 13: Decisions, Decisions  
  
That night Harry and Cho had their first real fight. Cho, knowing exactly how to get Harry to do her will, finally asked the one question she knew would break his argument.  
  
"What is the real reason you don't want to go?" she asked him.  
  
Harry was silent and then looked her directly in the eye. "I won't lie to you. I am afraid. I almost lost you a year ago while we were staying at the safest place there is. I almost lost Lily when she was with me in Diagon Alley a few days ago. I don't want to risk losing you again. I couldn't bare it. You and Lily mean more to me than my life and I don't want to take you to a foreign place when I so recently almost lost you in the two places I know best. I can't push this fear down. Its there and I don't want it to have a cause to grow." He bent down to pick up Lily from her play pen. "I just can't risk it right now." He looked away from her stunned gaze.  
  
Cho continued to stare at him in utter shock. She knew Malfoy's kidnapping attempts had affected him but she was never aware of how deep those scars really were. She could understand it. Harry had spent the majority of his life without love and now that he had it he didn't want to risk losing it.  
  
"Oh Harry. I didn't know it had hurt you that much. If you don't want to go I can understand. We won't go if you don't want to." Cho kissed him lightly and took Lily from him. She began to rock the baby to sleep.  
  
Little child close your eyes Slumber is near The moon is out the sun is gone The stars wink their goodnights Sleep little child Mama's right here Sleep my dear Lily Daddy is near  
  
Cho sang Lily the lullaby her own mother had sung to her (with Cho instead of Lily) when she was a small child. Harry smiled as Lily's breathing slowed and she fell into a deep sleep. Cho laid her in her crib and turned to smile at Harry.  
  
"Get some sleep. You have classes and Sirius to deal with tomorrow." Cho said as she crawled into sleep.  
  
Harry fell into a nightmare filled sleep. In his dreams he saw Cho and Lily standing a little away from him. He began moving towards them when a dark shadow stood in front of him. Cho and Lily screamed and he tried to get to them. The harder he tried to get to them the louder their screams.  
  
Harry bolted upright drenched in a cold sweat. He was gasping for breath and trying to calm himself. It wasn't working. Harry decided to go into the small den that was attached to their room and read so that he wouldn't wake Cho. He pulled his parents journal from the drawer in his nightstand.  
  
He went and sat in a chair by the ever-going fire. He opened it to one of the entries from a few months before they died.  
  
I am becoming suspicious. Someone is giving Voldemort information on us. They are obviously very close to me and not as close to Lily because they do not yet know of her pregnancy. Only five people besides us know of it for now. Dumbledore of course, Sirius, Remus, Jenny, and my mother. We only told those we trusted with all our secrets. Yet the information being given to Voldemort is obviously from someone extremely close. I know that it is not Remus for he is always loyal and would never do anything to risk his only friends. Sirius is not the cause either for he was kicked out of his family for associating with Remus and myself and has been willing to do anything for me since we became friends. I fear that it is Peter. He has been acting strange as of late. He hangs around but is afraid to look anyone in the eye. He jumps at the mention of Voldemort and often misses Order meetings or disappears immediately after. Something is up with him. I won't voice my suspicions yet but I will watch him closer.  
  
Harry was startled out of his reading by a hand on his shoulder. He jumped up and had his wand out and pointed at the culprit in a second.  
  
"You would have made a great Auror." Cho said smiling at his defensive posture.  
  
"Sorry you scared me. Why are you awake?"  
  
"I woke and you weren't there so I came to find you. What are you doing up at" she glanced at the clock on the wall, "three in the morning?" Cho raised an eyebrow at him quizzically.  
  
"Had a nightmare and couldn't get back to sleep. I've been reading. Apparently my dad suspected that Peter was a spy."  
  
"That's odd. Why would he put his life in his hands then? It doesn't make sense." Cho's brow furrowed in confusion.  
  
"I'll find out later, right now lets try to get some more sleep." He smiled and made his way back to the bedroom. He peeked into Lily's crib real quick to make sure she was still asleep and crawled into bed. "Night."  
  
"Morning." She corrected before falling back asleep against him.  
  
Harry smiled. Tomorrow or rather today was another day of teaching he did not need to worry about Lily and Cho. They weren't in any danger.  
  
Sirius smiled at Harry as he walked into the dinning hall the next morning looking tired. "Cho made you sleep on that uncomfortable thing you call a couch?" He asked pushing some eggs towards him.  
  
"No I had a nightmare. Then I was reading my father's journal." Harry took Lily from Cho and began feeding her part of his eggs. "Anyway Sirius we have a class of beginners first today. Try not to kill anyone with the bludgers. I would like my students in one piece next week." Cho laughed as he said this.  
  
"Ain't that the truth." Tonks muttered under her breath making Remus choke on his toast.  
  
"Can we ever have a normal calm meal?" Hermione asked from her spot next to Ron and the twins.  
  
At this Ron snorted. "'Mione, the last time we had a normal meal was first year before we became friends with you. And even then it wasn't exactly what most people would call normal."  
  
Ron glanced at his watch. "Bloody hell! I'm never going to get my classroom ready in time. Harry you best be getting ready yourself." With that and a quick kiss for Hermione and the kids he ran off towards his class.  
  
Harry also glanced at his watch and choked when he saw the time. It was already 8:45 and lessons started at nine. He hurried and kissed Cho and Lily and made his way to the Quidditch pitch dragging Sirius behind. (He had been trying to kiss Tonks to tick Remus off.)  
  
Cho came to talk with Harry during his free period that day. They began talk of what was happening at the school and even ventured into a conversation about the possibility of another child.  
  
"We should probably wait until Lily is older. It would be easier on both us and her." Harry suggested when Cho said that she would like another child.  
  
"I'm thinking of taking the DADA job next year. It will be empty as Hermione and Tonks are going to return to their work at the Ministry. I was thinking about it and I could take the class over and Sirius could take over Quidditch." Harry stated out of the blue.  
  
"Good idea but you should take the Advanced DADA class instead and I can take the DADA class. This way I have something to do during the day. I was thinking of going back to work but this is better. Then all the positions would be filled. Simple enough." Cho smiled happy about figuring all the details out. "Now all you have to do is bring it to Dumbledore's attention. So how was your class today?"  
  
They continued talking until Harry's next class. That night he returned to reading the journal. Harry was shocked when Cho came into the room and took it away from him. "No reading tonight. We have a meeting to get to after we get Lily to sleep. Or did you forget about Dumbledore wanting to see us today?"  
  
"I didn't forget. It just slipped my mind for a moment. Let me help you get her ready for bed then we'll be on our way."  
  
Lily was asleep a few minutes later and they hurried to Dumbledore's office. "You wanted to see us Professor?" Harry asked as he entered.  
  
"How many times do I have to tell you Harry? Call me Albus. You are not a student any longer." Dumbledore said shaking his head. "As for what I wanted to see you for I have to wait till the others arrive."  
  
Just as he finished his sentence the door opened and the rest of the teachers filed in. They stood around the room and began chatting as everyone found a spot. The doors were closed when Fred and George entered the room and all eyes turned to Dumbledore.  
  
"I called you all here to discuss a few things with you about this school year. First the issue of the prank store on campus. I am very well aware that the pranks will be used for house rivalries, mainly between Slytherin and Gryffindor. Should this become a big problem I will put my foot down on the matter but so long as no one is hurt there is no harm in it happening. This method is far better than the methods used in years before when physical fights and injuring curses were used. It is my hope that these pranks will prevent a lot of injuries.  
  
"Second, it has been brought to my attention that a rather large group of teachers seems to be getting into as much trouble as the students." At this point he looked towards Harry. "If you are going to fight amongst yourselves, please take it to a place where the students will not witness it. Simple as that. Now concerning classes. I am already looking for two new Defense teachers as this year's teachers will be returning to Auror work next year. I have also been looking into a care taker for your children as it seems that we have more teachers who have such. I figure that we may be able to concentrate on lessons easier if we know that the children in this school are safe and not in danger like they were last year. Any questions?"  
  
Most shook their heads and were shocked when Harry spoke up. "About the defense jobs next year. I had been thinking about that myself and I was thinking of taking over the advanced class and when I mentioned it to Cho she agreed."  
  
"I also am looking into taking the regular defense class and Sirius can just take the Quidditch class completely. It works out good. Its just an idea though. Plus this keeps the tradition of a different Defense teacher every year going." Cho smiled as she thought about it.  
  
Dumbledore looked at the Potters. "That's a great idea. Well now that that is settled, unless anyone has anything else to add this meeting is concluded."  
  
Conversation started almost immediately. Remus and Tonks moved towards the group as they were walking down the hall to the designated rooms for the teachers. "I think you two were the cause of the 'fighting amongst ourselves' portion." Remus said in a low voice.  
  
"Yeah that or you and Sirius' battles. Someway or another it had to do with our group." Harry replied. "So you never did answer our question yesterday. When is the wedding?"  
  
"October 20. We decided that October was a nice month and we would like the students to be able to attend. We just picked the day a week ago. Harry I would like you to be my best man. I would ask Sirius but I plan on locking him in a closet until it is over." Remus smiled as he pictured Sirius' outraged look. "Actually Sirius' is filling in the place of Tonks' father. He is her cousin and is her closest male family around so he is going to fill in."  
  
Tonks nodded in confirmation. "If he tries anything he'll be cursed before he can blink. Cho I want you and Hermione to be my bridesmaids. We have fittings this weekend." Cho smiled at her but it was broken by a yawn.  
  
"We'll let you two get on to bed." Remus winked at them and was met with an elbow to his stomach.  
  
"Remus! You have been hanging around with Sirius way too long." Tonks said as she steered him down the hall.  
  
A/N: Ok I'm done. Look it was actually an interesting chapter. Wow. Anyway, thanks again to my editor, FireFairy05. Yay! Fairy is a quick editor. Thus you get this chapter sooner. Ta da. Now be good little chaps and review. 


	14. Hogwarts Wedding

Disclaimer: see chapter 1  
  
Chapter 14: Hogwarts Wedding  
  
Time went quickly for the group. Soon it was a week before the wedding and the girls were having a day too themselves while the men and Sirius were babysitting.  
  
"This is all you're fault." Ron stated to Remus as he looked at the mess that his kids had made.  
  
"How may I ask is this my fault?" Remus looked at the room as well.  
  
"You volunteered to watch the kids, you chose to volunteer us as well." Ron replied as he cleaned Isiah up.  
  
After Isiah was clean, Ron set the little boy on the ground and turned to Harry who was rocking Lily to sleep.  
  
"What do you think Harry?"  
  
"I think that if you don't quiet down I'm likely to kill you. Its not that big of a deal. The girls deserved a day off and we just happened to be able to provide that"  
  
Remus looked around and noticed that the door was open. "Guys I think we have a problem." Remus pointed to the door.  
  
The boys gulped as they realized the twins were loose in Hogwarts. This was going to be an interesting day.  
  
"Remus, you can stay here and watch Hope and Lily while we look for the twins." Harry handed Lily to him and ran out the door.  
  
Lily immediately began to cry.  
  
Remus rocked her softly and tried to sooth her. She cried louder.  
  
"They went this way!" Ron shouted as he noticed the handprints on the wall.  
  
Harry quickly followed noticing when the visible path of goo turned into two directions. What the goo was, Harry wasn't sure he wanted to know but it was obviously a trail left by small children.  
  
"Ron I'll go right you go straight. Filch is going to hate us when he sees this." Harry quickly continued looking for the mischievous children.  
  
Lily was still crying. *No wonder the twins refuse to baby-sit any more! The kid is terrified of losing her father again."  
  
Lily finally quieted to a small whimper when Remus began to hum her a lullaby. Lily grabbed at Remus' shirt and pulled part of it in her mouth before looking up at him with her beautiful eyes.  
  
Remus smiled at the child before continuing to rock her and hum.  
  
"Ok. Cassy, its time to go back to the playroom." Harry tried to coax the little girl to come with him.  
  
Casandra looked at him as if deciding whether to go with him or not. She finally decided that she could trust him and took his hand with her own sticky one. Harry sighed with relief hoping that Isiah was in just as good a mood.  
  
Lily had just fallen asleep when Cassy came in yelling and laughing.  
  
Lily woke up at the noise and began screaming again.  
  
Harry walked over to her and looked into the crib. "Hush Lily. Its just Cassy. Go back to sleep so Uncle Remus can have some peace and quiet." He whispered to the little girl.  
  
Lily giggled and played with her toys but was quiet none the less.  
  
"How did you do that? It took me an hour to get her to sleep and you got her to quiet down by just telling her to hush?" Remus stared at him in shock. "You spoil her too much Remus. If you tell her straight out without picking her up or attempting to sooth her she will quiet down." Harry smiled at the shocked look on Remus' face.  
  
The girls were having a great time on their day off. They had already hit Honeydukes and were prepared to shop for clothes courtesy of the menfolk's wallets.  
  
Tonks decided that Remus needed new clothes so they were having a good time picking out clothes for their husbands and themselves.  
  
Tonks was getting nervous about the wedding and was completely ready to hear the reassurances of the other women.  
  
"It'll be OK Tonks. Life will continue as it is after this wedding. It only makes you nervous because you haven't committed yourself to Remus before and now you are. You two will be so happy together." Cho reassured the young woman.  
  
Tonks' hair was changing colors rapidly as she thought more about it.  
  
"Tonks calm down. The wedding is not for another week. Right now we just need to enjoy our men and children free day." Hermione put her hand on Tonks arm.  
  
Tonks smiled as she thought of something. "I know someone who needs new clothes." An evil grin spread across her face. "Sirius always needs a new pair of biting underwear."  
  
"Getting revenge for the recent outbreak of pranks?" Hermione asked as she grinned at the memory.  
  
Indeed there had been a recent outbreak in pranks. Sirius had played many pranks on poor Remus and had even resulted in messing with his food. Arguments between teachers had come to a stop with the exception of the two remaining Maradaurs.  
  
Sirius and Remus would fight openly through out the school. Prank wars resulted in the two of them ending up in Dumbledore's office like when they were school children. Many lectures later Sirius had learned nothing and Remus just ignored it.  
  
"Remus said its Sirius' way of making sure he won't ruin the wedding. He figures if Sirius gets enough pranks in before hand, then he will be bored with the idea of crashing the wedding. Remus said that Sirius also did the same to James before his wedding." Tonks explained what Remus had told her. Ron soon returned to what the boys had designated the "playroom" with Isiah looking a bit messed up. He was covered in some kind of goo and in red paint.  
  
"I found him and caught him. Filch is going to kill us." Ron explained as he tried to clean his clothes with a spell.  
  
"I happen to agree." Remus stated as he looked at Ron.  
  
The rest of the week went by fast. The guys had been forced to clean the mess the kids had made throughout Hogwarts themselves since Filch threatened to resign should he be forced to do it.  
  
The students and teachers wouldn't have minded this with the exception of a few including Dumbledore whom no one dare challenge.  
  
Soon the day had arrived. The girls were getting Tonks ready while the guys made sure Remus was ready and everything else was in order.  
  
Almost every person in Hogwarts was sitting on the lawn by the lake watching a nervous Remus pull at his collar as he waited for Tonks to appear.  
  
And appear she did. The crowd gasped. Remus lost all mobility at the sight of Tonks in that beautiful white vest. Her hair was jet black and just past her shoulders in length (or it would be had it been down) and was tied in an intricate fashion on her head and around her veil.  
  
Remus was grinning like a mad man as Sirius walked his cousin down the aisle and placing Tonk's hand into Remus'.  
  
"Good luck you too." He whispered in a completely serious voice.  
  
Dumbledore, who was officiating, began the ceremony and led the couple through their vows.  
  
Then it was time to say the vows they had made up. "Tonks, Nyphadora, I never thought I'd be able to marry without risking the ones I loved but I was wrong. I am healed and I am ready to start a family with you. I love you Nymphadora Tonks, everything about you." Remus' vows were to the point but touching at the same time.  
  
"Remus, I have cared for you since the moment I met you. You always chose to be so distant from everyone and I thought who better to try and get close too. The closer I got the faster I fell in love until I woke up one day with the knowledge that you were destined to be mine." Tonks blushed a bit at the thought of her vows.  
  
"Dumbledore smiled at them and continued the ceremony. The party lasted much of the night and Remus and Tonks eventually slipped out unnoticed. The Hogwarts family of teachers got more tangled each day. Now there were none, save Sirius who was still lonely.  
  
A/N: I finally got this out. I killed the writers block (at least for this story) I'm so proud and I feel like I'm about to cry. Ok. That's enough. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. 


	15. What's wrong with Tonks?

Disclaimer: see chapter 1 or 10 Chapter 15: What's wrong with Tonks?  
  
A few weeks after the wedding things were finally getting back to normal. Sirius was back to pranking everyone. All the teachers were getting ready for the end of term exams while the students were cramming to pass them. McGonagall had finally given up on getting Sirius to act like the adult he was and stopping students from pranking each other.  
  
Things were back to normal, or as normal as things ever got at Hogwarts.  
  
"What's wrong Nyphie?" Remus asked his wife.  
  
"Nothing I just had an off moment." Tonks said. She was as clumsy as ever and on her way to her class when she tripped. This was not a new thing but when she fell her hair changed color.  
  
"You sure something is not wrong? You usually don't change hair color when you fall." Remus had become protective of his wife and it was starting to get on her nerves.  
  
"I'm fine. You are going to be late to your class." Tonks found a way to be rid of him he was just a bit protective of her and it ticked her off at times.  
  
Remus looked at his watch before kissing her and heading towards his class shooting one last look at her filled with concern.  
  
It started out as little things like her hair changing color when she fell and her eyes changing color when she was angry. It was not noticeable to too many people but it was noticeable to almost everyone in the group. Even Sirius began to notice.  
  
Tonks soon began to worry herself. She refused to tell Remus she was concerned because she knew he would take her to St. Muguno's and she refused to go so far. So she tried another tactic. Someone had to get Remus out of the castle so she could go to Madam Pomprey.  
  
Who better for such a job than – "Sirius, I have a favor to ask of you." Tonks stated simply as she cornered him one day.  
  
"If your mad about the dancing monkey I let loose in your class I didn't mean to. I was trying to take it to Snape's office but it sort of escaped me." Sirius automatically defended himself.  
  
"Oh yeah I have to remember to maim you for that later. Better yet... You could make it up to me by doing me this favor." Tonks smiled knowing Sirius had just set himself up for this favor.  
  
"What do I have to do?" Sirius was fearful of Tonks revenge.  
  
"I need you to get Remus out of the castle for a day. I need to do something that I don't want him knowing about till I get around to telling him. Can you do that for me?" Tonks gave him a pleading look.  
  
Sirius' face grew determined. "Of coarse my Lady. I shall do whatever such a fair maiden needs." He bowed mockingly and strutted off to find something to replace his dancing monkey. He found Peeves on the way and started a chat with ways to tortcher Snape.  
  
Tonks shook her head. He'd never learn.  
  
Sirius had done as he was told. He had dragged Remus out of the castle to "shop with him" for things to prank snape with. Remus was forced to go along to make sure Sirius did not buy anything illegal. That would take a long time and a lot of patience.  
  
Tonks made her way to the hospital wing. Madam Pomprey took her to her office and talked to her for a few minutes.  
  
"Poppy, my magic is acting up. First it was just my morphing then complex spells. Now my magic is on the flip randomly and even the simplest spells go wrong. Even my levitation spell goes haywire sometimes. Last thing I tried to levitate turned into a peacock and ran around the room squaking at me."  
  
Madam Pomprey studied the young woman for a moment. "May I run a few tests on you?"  
  
"That's fine with me. What do you think it is?" Tonks was a bit worried at Pomprey's tone.  
  
"It has to be one of three things. You are having a magical power growth due to your more active surroundings and usage of magic, you have caught a magical illness that can only be healed by time, or you are pregnant."  
  
Tonks gasped.  
  
A/N: Ha got it up quickly! I have to leave it in suspense. Which one will it be? How about you vote and then after 5 votes I'll update. I don't really know which one it will be so... The suspense must be killing you. Respond quickly update quickly. Also tell me how long you want this story to be. How many more chapters do you want me to write? 


	16. An Unexpected Mission

**Chapter 16: An unexpected mission**  
  
Harry was teaching his class of fifth years and trying not to think of Tonks. Madam Pomprey was still not sure what exactly had happened to Tonks but was leaning more towards pregnancy. Remus had pretty much gone nuts at this thought. Harry smiled at the memory.  
  
Remus stared at his wife as if she had grown another head. "You... you...pregnant? A Baby?" Remus couldn't make his mind think coherently.  
  
"It's a possibility Remus. I'm either pregnant or ill and either way I'm going to have to take it a bit easier now. I'm sure it will be ok either way." Tonks had tried to reassure the babbling man.  
  
Harry had helped Remus to a chair while Cho had begun chatting excitedly to Tonks.  
  
The group still had about a week and a half to find out which one it was for sure. Madam Pomprey had told Tonks that it was too early to tell either way and had told her she would check again two weeks later. Remus refused to leave Tonks side unless forced.  
  
Sirius had been called away by the Ministry to do some work leaving Harry alone with the class.  
  
"Sir?" a voice startled him out of his thoughts.  
  
Harry looked at the boy who had spoken to him. "What do you need?"  
  
"Professor Dumbledore wanted to see you sir. He told me to come and get you immediately." The boy seemed a bit nervous to be addressing Harry.  
  
"Class! You are getting an early dismissal. Homework to make up for it. I want a foot and a half about why your position is important to the team and requires team work." Harry told his class before heading into the building.  
  
Harry entered the headmaster's office and sat in front of the polished desk.  
  
"Ah Harry. I'm glad you came so quickly. Lemon Drop?" Dumbledore said offering the tray of candies on his desk.  
  
"No thank you sir. What did you need to see me about sir?"  
  
"I have a mission for you. You see it has been brought to my attention by the Minister of Magic that one of our future students is being abused by her grandparents. This causes a problem because she is very powerful and the ministry knows this. I need you to go to her grandparents' house and collect her. She needs to be taken to her parents, who know nothing about it and are away on a business trip. If we do not do this, her powers will have about the same consequences as a bomb going off." Dumbledore explained simply.  
  
"And what am I supposed to do when I show up at the parents hotel room with their daughter claiming that she was being abused?"  
  
"you will explain to them the magical world. Well at least to her father. Her mother is a squib and her father was a wizard. Things went bad and they divorced and the mother remarried to someone you know."  
  
"So why does it have to be me that goes. Couldn't you send someone else? I already have Sirius gone from my class, I don't spend enough time with Lily and Cho as it is, I spend more than I would if I were on the Quidditch team but still...Cho will kill me for doing this on such short notice." Harry sighed in frustration.  
  
"Because the little girl is one of your relatives. Your cousin, Dudley, is her father. Her grandparents that are abusing her are Vernon and Petunia Dursley. If they see you they will know they are in trouble because you swore you would not come back to their house if you could help it. You must go get Rosemary. Cho can cover your class for you and you can take Lily with you. Lily will show the little girl that you aren't cruel or evil but in fact very gentle." Dumbledore looked over the rims of his glasses at him as he stated simply, "It is an order from me. You leave tomorrow."  
  
Harry stood and left. He made it to his and Cho's rooms just as Cho was about to go look for him.  
  
"I was wondering where you were." She commented as she followed him to the couch in front of the fire.  
  
"I had a meeting with Dumbledore. He's sending me on a mission tomorrow. He told me that you would take over the class and I was to take Lily with me." He decided on a straight on approach.  
  
"What? Where are you going? Did he say how long he's talking about?"  
  
"he told me I had to go rescue some little girl that is my cousin's step daughter from the Dursleys who are abusing her. He told me I was to introduce her and her family to the wizarding world. He figures Lily will help my status with the girl."  
  
Cho looked like she was going to chop Dumbledore into pieces before feeding him to Fluffy.  
  
"I tried to refuse but he made it an order. I'll make it as quick as possible." Harry tried to get on her good side.  
  
Cho was fuming as they went to dinner. Lily even seemed to notice reaching for her father instead of her mother.  
  
Luckily Sirius wasn't back from his mission yet. Cho had everybody on edge, with the exception of Remus who was still too worried about Tonks to care about anything else.  
  
The next morning Harry packed his and Lily's stuff before kissing a still fuming Cho goodbye. With that he headed out to Hogsmade to catch the train to London.  
  
This was going to be an interesting mission. Harry thought as he looked at his giggling daughter strapped to his chest.  
  
**A/n: I think I'm losing my touch with this story. Sigh. I need reviews to encourage me. This story is slacking on reviews compared to my other stories. (Well my other Harry Potter ones). Oh well. Sorry the update took so long.**


	17. Confrontation

**Chapter 17: Confrontation  
**  
Harry stepped off the train before calling for a taxi. He directed the man to the Dursleys house and took a deep breath before stepping out with Lily. He had shrunk both his and the baby's things and put them in his pocket.  
  
He paid the taxi driver and walked up the driveway. After knocking on the door he waited patiently for his aunt to open the door. He was dressed in a muggle suit so as not to attract attention (if you ignore the little red head strapped to his chest =p). Petunia opened the door thinking it was one of Vernon's friends and gasped at what she saw.  
  
"You-you!" she stuttered as Harry smiled at her.  
  
"Are you going to let me in Aunt Petunia?" Harry asked the shocked lady.  
  
"What are you doing here? You can't be here-"she began to rant while Harry slipped passed her.  
  
"I'm here to see Rosemary." Harry said matter of factly. He refused to let Lily down even though she was crying to crawl and explore. He wouldn't let her explore the one place he hated more than anything.  
  
"W-What do you want with my granddaughter you you freak?" Petunia was more angry than she was frightened.  
  
"She's being beaten and I've been sent to collect her and take her to her parents. You'd think you'd have learned by now that nothing can take magic out of a person. Now then where is she?" Harry continued to look around.  
  
Just then Vernon came down the stairs with a little girl in tow. The little girl was limping slightly and had a scared look in her eye. Harry remembered what it was like here.  
  
"Rosemary, I'm Harry Potter. I'm your dad's cousin. I'm here to take you to your parents." Harry introduced himself kneeling in front of the girl.  
  
The girl looked at him curiously then smiled at the little girl strapped to his chest.  
  
"This," Harry finally took her out of her papoose, "is my daughter Lily." Lily smiled at the little girl with her toothless grin before babbling at her loudly. "She likes you."  
  
Rosemary looked at the strange man. "Why are you taking me to my mommy and daddy? They are doing very important stuff right now so I'm supposed to stay here."  
  
"Can I tell you something Rosemary? Do you know about magic?" he looked at the young girl with her dark brown curls that framed her round face.  
  
"Grandpa says there is no such thing as it. He says its bad to say that word." She looked up at Vernon as if afraid he would punish her for even thinking about the word.  
  
"Grandpa is wrong though. MAGIC is real." Harry emphasized the word watching the two adults wince. Harry took out his wand and waved it producing a sunflower for the little girl.  
  
She gasped and took it from him. "Wow. So why are you taking me to my parents?" she was still waiting for an answer.  
  
"Because they are hurting you here. You see your grandparents don't like magic and so they want to hurt you so it will go away, the problem is, it won't. Little one, when they hit you it makes feelings pop up and if you don't let those out or if they get to be too many, you are going to use a lot of magic and someone might get hurt. So I'm going to take you to your parents so that we can tell them about magic." Harry explained as best he could while Lily decided to crawl around.  
  
Rosemary cocked her head to the side studying the black haired man before nodding. "Ok." She replied cheerily.  
  
Harry picked up Lily and told Rosemary to get her things. Vernon lost whatever shock came over him at seeing Harry in his house with a wand. "You will not be taking her." He said firmly as Harry took Rosemary's hand and began to lead her out carrying her bag.  
  
"Vernon Dursley get out of my way. You abused me as a child, you tried to take away my future and my freedom but I dealt with it. You favored your son enough that I starved while he fattened, I worked while he watched TV, and I dealt with it, but I will not let you do it to this sweet little girl who knows nothing about her true strength. If you do not get out of the way, I will show you some of the things I learned at that school and beyond." Harry's eyes were flaming as he told the man off.  
  
Vernon stood there too long for Harry's patience. Harry took out his wand and raised it. Vernon quickly moved. "Thank you." Harry said simply before heading out of the house behind his new charge.  
  
"Now then let us find your parents." Harry smiled at Rose (I shortened it because Rosemary is so annoying to type), and headed off down the street.  
  
**A/N: Short as hell but you can deal with it ok.**


	18. The Joys of Magic

**Chapter 18: The joys of magic  
  
Disclaimer: Now if I owned it would it be referred to as fan fiction? I didn't think so.  
**  
Harry led the little girl down the street and into an alley. She had given her bag to him (which he had shrunk and put in his pocket with the others) and now held his hand.  
  
"Sir where are we going?" Rose asked confused.  
  
"We are going to use a portkey to get to your mom and dad. One of my friends set it up. You can call me Harry if you'd like." Harry was still unused to people calling him sir.  
  
The little girl looked unsure. "Wh- what's a portkey?" she asked nervously.  
  
Harry smiled at the girl. "A portkey is an object that is enchanted so that you can move quickly from one place to another. It feels weird when you travel by it though but its fast so we'll get there in no time."  
  
Harry pulled out a book and held it out to Rose. "Touch the book and hold my hand. This is our portkey for the day." Lily laughed at a passing butterfly. Harry smiled at his daughter as he pulled out his wand. He muttered the activation spell and put his wand away before grabbing Rose's hand.  
  
A few seconds later, Harry felt the now familiar pull of the portkey and heard Rose gasp next to him. Not a minute later they were in a dark alley in a new city. It was almost 4000 miles away and Rose was amazed at the sites. Harry smiled as he led her towards the busy street.  
  
The sites were amazing. Harry would even agree to that. It appeared to be one of the older towns that made large amounts of money off tourism but it was still a fairly lively town.  
  
"Where are mommy and daddy?" Rose asked the black haired man.  
  
"According to my friend's directions," Harry looked at the paper Dumbledore had given him, "they should be staying at that hotel." Lily giggled at the kites and flags for sale in the shops around them. Rose pointed to a kite that had a princess drawn on it.  
  
"Maybe Daddy will buy that for me. Do you think he will Harry?" Rose's eyes lit at the prospect.  
  
"You don't want that. Wait and buy a kite when we go to Diagon Alley. Then you'll be happy. Things are different there." Harry grinned as the girls eyes widened.  
  
"You mean they have kites in the magical world?" Rose looked like she would burst with joy.  
  
Harry knelt so he was at the girls level. "Rosemary, you have to be quieter. Not many people know that magic exists. You are a very special little girl but we have to keep your talents hidden. If you are good, I will buy you a magical kite but for now we need to go talk to your parents." Harry whispered to the young girl.  
  
Rose nodded solemnly. Harry stood and took her hand once more before heading into the hotel. The clerk at the desk noticed them immediately.  
  
"Good Morning sir. What can I do for you today?" The man was shorter than Harry and seemed intrigued at the little red haired girl strapped to Harry's chest giggling.  
  
"Yes, I am here to see one of your guests. Dursley is the last name. May I have the room number?" Harry was as polite but firm as he informed the man of his needs.  
  
"Of course sir. I must advise you though sir. Mr. and Mrs. Dursley may not be there. I believe they had a meeting this morning. You are welcome to go check if you would like." The man looked in his book and checked for the room number. "Room 312. Would you like me to call and see if they are there?"  
  
"No thank you. I will check myself. Thank you." Harry led Rosemary towards the elevator.  
  
"What are we going to do if they aren't there?" Rosemary was ever curious and questioning everything.  
  
"We'll go inside and wait for them." Harry answered simply.  
  
Dudley and his wife were, indeed, not there. Harry looked up and down the hall before withdrawing his wand and whispering "Alohomora." The lock clicked and Harry ushered the girl in.  
  
Harry took Lily out of her carrier and let her crawl about the hotel room while he sat down to wait for Dudley to get back.  
  
They waited for about an hour. Harry told Rosemary stories about the magical world while they waited. All too quickly (in Rose's mind anyway) the doorknob turned and in walked Dudley and his wife.  
  
"Rosie what are you doing here?" Dudley's wife asked shocked at seeing her daughter there.  
  
"Harry what is going on? Why are you here with my daughter?" Dudley asked, recognizing his cousin immediately.  
  
"We need to talk Dudley. Its about Rosemary." Harry stated simply picking Lily up from where she was playing with a conjured toy on the floor.  
  
**A/N: Look an update. I know its short. Sigh. Trust me I know. Its just taking me forever to force my brain to spit out the idea. Oh well. Hopefully it will pick up in the next chapter.** **Ok people. I don't know what is wrong with me but I all of a sudden can't write 1000 words. I need reviews and bad. Maybe that will make my mind concentrate. Or I can just keep doing these short chapters...**


	19. Explanations

**Chapter 19: Explanations  
  
Disclaimer: If you've seen it before, I don't own it.

* * *

**"Who are you? What are you doing with my daughter?" Dudley's wife demanded of Harry, suddenly finding her voice.  
  
"My name is Harry Potter, I'm Dudley's cousin. If you will give me a minute, I will explain why both Rosemary and I are here." Harry tried to get her to calm down.  
  
"Harry, I thought you wanted nothing to do with my family after you graduated. What on earth could compel you to come see me and how does it concern my daughter.?" Dudley asked sitting and pulling his wife down next to him.  
  
Harry sat across with Lily in his lap. Rosemary crawled into her mom's lap and snuggled up with her.  
  
"Would you like some tea?" Harry asked waving his wand to make a teapot and a few cups appear for them.  
  
Rosemary giggled in delight and Dudley's wife gasped in shock.  
  
"Oh I'm terribly sorry." Harry quickly apologized. "I forgot to tell you. I'm a wizard. I can do magic."  
  
Dudley finally got over his initial shock. "Harry this is my wife, Diane. Diane, my cousin Harry."  
  
"Thanks for that Dud. I may as well introduce my little guest. This, is my daughter, Lily." Lily looked up recognizing her name and babbled a bit in her own language.  
  
Harry took a deep breath and began. "I teach at a school called Hogwarts and a few days ago, the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, called me into his office. He informed me that I was to go to Number 4 Privet Drive and collect Rosemary and bring her to you. The circumstances of her current care was a danger and thus I was forced to interfere. In simple terms, your child is magical and was being abused which eventually will result in a sudden explosion of her magic and a whole lot of clean up duty."  
  
"What do you mean explosion?" Diane asked Harry suspiciously.  
  
"When a child has magic in their blood, it shows itself at different times. If a child is afraid, or angry, or just extremely emotional or even in danger, the magic works. An example would be Dudley's eleventh birthday. I was angry when he pushed me down at the zoo and the glass disappeared. Its normally referred to as accidental magic. Now the way to explain this explosion is simple. Sometimes a child resists letting the magic out and instead stores keeps it locked in the little balloon like container. More and more gets forced into the little container until it over stretches and POP! It blows up." Harry explained it in as simple terms as possible.  
  
"So you are saying that Rose is a witch?" Dudley asked cautiously.  
  
"Yes. An untrained one but a witch all the same."  
  
"And my parents hit her?"  
  
"They tried to beat the magic out of her."  
  
"So what are we supposed to do now? She is too little to take care of herself alone in a foreign place by herself and we can't take her to meetings." Diane asked, still not sure what was going on.  
  
"Wait wait wait. One step at a time. First how do you know that she is magical?"  
  
"When a child first shows signs of magic, their name is written in a book. When the time comes for them to attend school, they are sent a letter by whichever school they are to attend."  
  
"I don't believe you that my step-daughter is a witch."  
  
"Would you like me to prove it to you?" Harry was getting impatient. He wanted to get home to Cho and his life.  
  
"How would you do that?" Dudley asked, not willing to let Harry do anything to hurt the girl.  
  
"Simple." He took out his wand. Dudley flinched and moved to protect his daughter. "I'm not going to cast any spells on anyone, don't worry." He handed the wand to Dudley. "Give it a wave." He ordered.  
  
Dudley waved the wand. Nothing happened. Harry took the wand back. "Waving a wand when you are not magical does nothing." He handed the wand to Rose. "Wave it little one." Harry told her.  
  
Rose waved the wand. Beautiful multicolored sparks shot out the end.  
  
Harry took his wand back. "She is full of magic. You can't deny she is a witch."  
  
"So what are we supposed to do with her?" Dudley repeated his wife's question.

* * *

**A/N: kind of short for such a long wait but hey what can you do?**


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